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Improvements in the simulation of surface climatology over the European region with a nested modeling system
Author(s) -
Giorgi F.,
Marinucci M. R.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/96gl00050
Subject(s) - climatology , precipitation , general circulation model , gcm transcription factors , environmental science , nested set model , climate model , surface air temperature , atmospheric circulation , climate simulation , scale (ratio) , range (aeronautics) , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , climate change , geology , geography , computer science , relational database , oceanography , materials science , cartography , database , composite material
In this paper we report on the results of a present day climate simulation over the European region using a Regional Climate Model (RegCM) nested within a General Circulation Model (GCM). Precipitation and surface air temperature results over different European subregions are compared with observations and with results from previous simulations by Marinucci and Giorgi [1992] and other modeling groups. Based on a number of measures of simulation skill such as monthly and seasonal biases and spatial correlations, the RegCM performance is substantially improved compared to that of Marinucci and Giorgi [1992], it compares well with that of other recent experiments and it is better than that of the driving GCM. Seasonal precipitation and surface air temperature biases over European subregions of 10 5 –10 7 km² size are mostly in the range of ±25% of observations and ±2°C, respectively. These biases appear to represent the level of accuracy characteristic of present regional modeling systems over Europe at the seasonal and regional scale.