weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional climate modelling system
Extreme weather events can have large impacts on society and, in many regions, are expected to change in frequency and intensity with climate change. Owing to the relatively short observational record, climate models are useful tools as they allow for generation of a larger sample of extreme events,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Published: |
European Geosciences Union
2017
|
| _version_ | 1797088721770643456 |
|---|---|
| author | Guillod, B Jones, R Bowery, A Haustein, K Massey, N Mitchell, D Otto, F Sparrow, S Uhe, P Wallom, D Wilson, S Allen, M |
| author_facet | Guillod, B Jones, R Bowery, A Haustein, K Massey, N Mitchell, D Otto, F Sparrow, S Uhe, P Wallom, D Wilson, S Allen, M |
| author_sort | Guillod, B |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Extreme weather events can have large impacts on society and, in many regions, are expected to change in frequency and intensity with climate change. Owing to the relatively short observational record, climate models are useful tools as they allow for generation of a larger sample of extreme events, to attribute recent events to anthropogenic climate change, and to project changes in such events into the future. The modelling system known as weather@home, consisting of a global climate model (GCM) with a nested regional climate model (RCM) and driven by sea surface temperatures, allows one to generate a very large ensemble with the help of volunteer distributed computing. This is a key tool to understanding many aspects of extreme events. Here, a new version of the weather@home system (weather@home 2) with a higher-resolution RCM over Europe is documented and a broad validation of the climate is performed. The new model includes a more recent land-surface scheme in both GCM and RCM, where subgrid-scale land-surface heterogeneity is newly represented using tiles, and an increase in RCM resolution from 50 to 25 km. The GCM performs similarly to the previous version, with some improvements in the representation of mean climate. The European RCM temperature biases are overall reduced, in particular the warm bias over eastern Europe, but large biases remain. Precipitation is improved over the Alps in summer, with mixed changes in other regions and seasons. The model is shown to represent the main classes of regional extreme events reasonably well and shows a good sensitivity to its drivers. In particular, given the improvements in this version of the weather@home system, it is likely that more reliable statements can be made with regards to impact statements, especially at more localized scales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:54:09Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:aeb3891f-a909-43be-9730-62576a2b52a3 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T02:54:09Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | European Geosciences Union |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:aeb3891f-a909-43be-9730-62576a2b52a32022-03-27T03:44:21Zweather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional climate modelling systemJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:aeb3891f-a909-43be-9730-62576a2b52a3Symplectic Elements at OxfordEuropean Geosciences Union2017Guillod, BJones, RBowery, AHaustein, KMassey, NMitchell, DOtto, FSparrow, SUhe, PWallom, DWilson, SAllen, MExtreme weather events can have large impacts on society and, in many regions, are expected to change in frequency and intensity with climate change. Owing to the relatively short observational record, climate models are useful tools as they allow for generation of a larger sample of extreme events, to attribute recent events to anthropogenic climate change, and to project changes in such events into the future. The modelling system known as weather@home, consisting of a global climate model (GCM) with a nested regional climate model (RCM) and driven by sea surface temperatures, allows one to generate a very large ensemble with the help of volunteer distributed computing. This is a key tool to understanding many aspects of extreme events. Here, a new version of the weather@home system (weather@home 2) with a higher-resolution RCM over Europe is documented and a broad validation of the climate is performed. The new model includes a more recent land-surface scheme in both GCM and RCM, where subgrid-scale land-surface heterogeneity is newly represented using tiles, and an increase in RCM resolution from 50 to 25 km. The GCM performs similarly to the previous version, with some improvements in the representation of mean climate. The European RCM temperature biases are overall reduced, in particular the warm bias over eastern Europe, but large biases remain. Precipitation is improved over the Alps in summer, with mixed changes in other regions and seasons. The model is shown to represent the main classes of regional extreme events reasonably well and shows a good sensitivity to its drivers. In particular, given the improvements in this version of the weather@home system, it is likely that more reliable statements can be made with regards to impact statements, especially at more localized scales. |
| spellingShingle | Guillod, B Jones, R Bowery, A Haustein, K Massey, N Mitchell, D Otto, F Sparrow, S Uhe, P Wallom, D Wilson, S Allen, M weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional climate modelling system |
| title | weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional
climate modelling system |
| title_full | weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional
climate modelling system |
| title_fullStr | weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional
climate modelling system |
| title_full_unstemmed | weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional
climate modelling system |
| title_short | weather@home 2: validation of an improved global-regional
climate modelling system |
| title_sort | weather home 2 validation of an improved global regional climate modelling system |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT guillodb weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT jonesr weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT bowerya weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT hausteink weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT masseyn weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT mitchelld weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT ottof weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT sparrows weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT uhep weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT wallomd weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT wilsons weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem AT allenm weatherhome2validationofanimprovedglobalregionalclimatemodellingsystem |