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Evaluation of the dependence of the sensible heat flux trend on elevation over the Tibetan Plateau in CMIP5 models
Author(s) -
Zhu Lihua,
Huang Gang,
Fan Guangzhou,
Qü Xia,
Wang Zhibiao,
Hua Wei,
Lai Xin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.6908
Subject(s) - sensible heat , plateau (mathematics) , coupled model intercomparison project , elevation (ballistics) , environmental science , climatology , latent heat , flux (metallurgy) , heat flux , atmospheric sciences , climate model , climate change , meteorology , heat transfer , geology , geography , mathematics , physics , thermodynamics , mathematical analysis , oceanography , geometry , materials science , metallurgy
We evaluated the dependence of the sensible heat flux trend over the Tibetan Plateau on elevation by comparing the 29 climate models in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) with ground observations in the time period 1980–2005. The sensible heat flux trend over the Tibetan Plateau shows an elevation‐dependent variation in both the observations and reanalysis datasets, with a larger negative trend at higher altitudes. Most of the models analysed in this study performed poorly in simulating the linear trend of the sensible heat flux, although two models (HadGEM2‐CC and HadGEM2‐ES) reasonably captured the elevation range and seasons with a prominent decreasing trend in the sensible heat flux over the Tibetan Plateau. These two models possess good skills in depicting both the sensible heat flux trend and the terrain of the plateau in every 1,000 m wide altitudinal band. The coherence of the elevation‐dependent variation in the sensible heat flux trend between the observations and models is therefore not fortuitous. The sensible heat flux trend in most models of CMIP5 is sensitive to variations in the surface wind speed and the difference in temperature between the ground surface and the air, although these two factors show large biases deviating from the reanalysis product in almost all models in this study. In the HadGEM2‐CC and HadGEM2‐ES models, which showed a good performance in capturing the elevation‐dependent sensible heat flux trend, the leaf area index was shown to be the predominant factor affecting the variation in the sensible heat flux trend with elevation. That maybe link with the dynamic vegetation scheme in these two models.