The effect of horizontal resolution on simulation of very extreme US precipitation events in a global atmosphere model

被引:149
作者
Wehner, Michael F. [1 ]
Smith, Richard L. [2 ]
Bala, G. [3 ]
Duffy, Phillip [4 ]
机构
[1] Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA
[2] Univ N Carolina, Dept Stat & Operat Res, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA
[3] Indian Inst Sci, Ctr Atmospher & Ocean Sci, Divecha Ctr Climate Change, Bangalore 560012, Karnataka, India
[4] Climate Cent Inc, Palo Alto, CA 94301 USA
关键词
Extreme precipitation; Climate models; Return value; High resolution; CLIMATE; ENSEMBLE;
D O I
10.1007/s00382-009-0656-y
中图分类号
P4 [大气科学(气象学)];
学科分类号
0706 ; 070601 ;
摘要
We investigate the ability of a global atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) to reproduce observed 20 year return values of the annual maximum daily precipitation totals over the continental United States as a function of horizontal resolution. We find that at the high resolutions enabled by contemporary supercomputers, the AGCM can produce values of comparable magnitude to high quality observations. However, at the resolutions typical of the coupled general circulation models used in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the precipitation return values are severely underestimated.
引用
收藏
页码:241 / 247
页数:7
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