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

Wehner, Michael F and Smith, Richard L and Bala, G and Duffy, Phillip (2010) The effect of horizontal resolution on simulation of very extreme US precipitation events in a global atmosphere model. In: Climate Dynamics, 34 (2-3). pp. 241-247.

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Abstract

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.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Climate Dynamics
Publisher:	Springer
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to Springer.
Keywords:	Extreme precipitation; Climate models; Return value; High resolution
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Centre for Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2010 11:30
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 05:55
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/25529

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