Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau climate simulation using the regional climate model RegCM3

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
X Wang ◽  
M Yang ◽  
G Wan ◽  
X Chen ◽  
G Pang
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Climate Simulation

scholarly journals Direct radiative effects of dust aerosols emitted from the Tibetan Plateau on the East Asian summer monsoon – a regional climate model simulation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Zaitao Pan
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Dust Aerosols ◽  
Asian Summer

Abstract. While dust aerosols emitted from major Asian sources such as Taklimakan and Gobi Deserts have been shown to have strong effect on Asian monsoon and climate, the role of dust emitted from Tibetan Plateau (TP) itself, where aerosols can directly interact with the TP heat pump because of their physical proximity both in location and elevation, has not been examined. This study uses the dust coupled RegCM4.1 regional climate model to simulate the spatiotemporal distribution of dust aerosols originating in the TP and their radiative effects on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during both heavy and light dust years. Two 20-year simulations with and without the dust emission from TP showed that direct radiative cooling in the mid-troposphere induced by the TP locally produced dust aerosols resulted in an overall anticyclonic circulation anomaly in the low-troposphere centered over the TP region. The northeasterly anomaly in the EASM region reduces its strength considerably. The simulations found a significant negative correlation between the TP column dust load produced by local emissions and the corresponding anomaly in the EASM index (R=−0.41). The locally generated TP dust can cause surface cooling far downstream in eastern Mongolia and northeastern China through stationery Rossby wave propagation. Although contribution to the total Asian dust source from within TP (mainly Qaidam Basin) is relatively small, its impacts on Asian monsoon and climate seems disproportionately large, likely owning to its higher elevation within TP itself.

scholarly journals Validation of a High-Resolution Regional Climate Model for the Alpine Region and Effects of a Subgrid-Scale Topography and Land Use Representation

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 1854-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
E-S. Im ◽  
E. Coppola ◽  
F. Giorgi ◽  
X. Bi
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Alpine Region ◽  
Coarse Grid ◽  
Lapse Rate ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Subgrid Scale

Abstract A mosaic-type parameterization of subgrid-scale topography and land use (SubBATS) is applied for a high-resolution regional climate simulation over the Alpine region with a regional climate model (RegCM3). The model coarse-gridcell size in the control simulation is 15 km while the subgridcell size is 3 km. The parameterization requires disaggregation of atmospheric variables from the coarse grid to the subgrid and aggregation of surface fluxes from the subgrid to the coarse grid. Two 10-yr simulations (1983–92) are intercompared, one without (CONT) and one with (SUB) the subgrid scheme. The authors first validate the CONT simulation, showing that it produces good quality temperature and precipitation statistics, showing in particular a good performance compared to previous runs of this region. The subgrid scheme produces much finer detail of temperature and snow distribution following the topographic disaggregation. It also tends to form and melt snow more accurately in response to the heterogeneous characteristics of topography. In particular, validation against station observations shows that the SUB simulation improves the model simulation of the surface hydrologic cycle, in particular snow and runoff, especially at high-elevation sites. Finally, two experiments explore the model sensitivity to different subgrid disaggregation assumptions, namely, the temperature lapse rate and an empirical elevation-based disaggregation of precipitation.

scholarly journals Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 847-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Tang ◽  
A. Micheels ◽  
J. Eronen ◽  
M. Fortelius
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Regional Model ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Northern Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. The Late Miocene (11.6–5.3 Ma) is a crucial period in the history of the Asian monsoon. Significant changes in the Asian climate regime have been documented for this period, which saw the formation of the modern Asian monsoon system. However, the spatiotemporal structure of these changes is still ambiguous, and the associated mechanisms are debated. Here, we present a simulation of the average state of the Asian monsoon climate for the Tortonian (11–7 Ma) using the regional climate model CCLM3.2. We employ relatively high spatial resolution (1° × 1°) and adapt the physical boundary conditions such as topography, land-sea distribution and vegetation in the regional model to represent the Late Miocene. As climatological forcing, the output of a Tortonian run with a fully-coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model is used. Our regional Tortonian run shows a stronger-than-present East Asian winter monsoon wind as a result of the enhanced mid-latitude westerly wind of our global forcing and the lowered present-day northern Tibetan Plateau in the regional model. The summer monsoon circulation is generally weakened in our regional Tortonian run compared to today. However, the changes of summer monsoon precipitation exhibit major regional differences. Precipitation decreases in northern China and northern India, but increases in southern China, the western coast and the southern tip of India. This can be attributed to the changes in both the regional topography (e.g. the lower northern Tibetan Plateau) and the global climate conditions (e.g. the higher sea surface temperature). The spread of dry summer conditions over northern China and northern Pakistan in our Tortonian run further implies that the monsoonal climate may not have been fully established in these regions in the Tortonian. Compared with the global model, the high resolution regional model highlights the spatial differences of the Asian monsoon climate in the Tortonian, and better characterizes the convective activity and its response to regional topographical changes. It therefore provides a useful and compared to global models, a complementary tool to improve our understanding of the Asian monsoon evolution in the Late Miocene.

scholarly journals Future Climate in the Tibetan Plateau from a Statistical Regional Climate Model

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 10125-10138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuhua Zhu ◽  
Weiqiang Wang ◽  
Klaus Fraedrich
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Temperature Trends ◽  
Precipitation Increase

Abstract The authors use a statistical regional climate model [Statistical Regional Model (STAR)] to project the Tibetan Plateau (TP) climate for the period 2015–50. Reanalysis datasets covering 1958–2001 are used as a substitute of observations and resampled by STAR to optimally fit prescribed linear temperature trends derived from the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) simulations for phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) under the representative concentration pathway 2.6 (RCP2.6) and RCP4.5 scenarios. To assess the related uncertainty, temperature trends from carefully selected best/worst ensemble members are considered. In addition, an extra projection is forced by observed temperature trends in 1958–2001. The following results are obtained: (i) Spatial average temperature will increase by 0.6°–0.9°C; the increase exceeds 1°C in all months except in boreal summer, thus indicating a reduced annual cycle; and daily minimum temperature rises faster than daily maximum temperature, resulting in a narrowing of the diurnal range of near-surface temperature. (ii) Precipitation increase mainly occurs in early summer and autumn possibly because of an earlier onset and later withdrawal of the Asian summer monsoon. (iii) Both frost and ice days decrease by 1–2 days in spring, early summer, and autumn, and the decrease of frost days on the annual course is inversely related to the precipitation increase. (iv) Degree-days increase all over the TP with peak amplitude in the Qaidam Basin and the southern TP periphery, which will result in distinct melting of the local seasonal frozen ground, and the annual temperature range will decrease with stronger amplitude in south TP.

scholarly journals Direct radiative effects of dust aerosols emitted from the Tibetan Plateau on the East Asian summer monsoon – a regional climate model simulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (22) ◽  
pp. 13731-13745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Sun ◽  
Xiaodong Liu ◽  
Zaitao Pan
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
East Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Dust Aerosols ◽  
Asian Summer

Abstract. While dust aerosols emitted from major Asian sources such as Taklimakan and Gobi deserts have been shown to have strong effect on Asian monsoon and climate, the role of dust emitted from Tibetan Plateau (TP) itself, where aerosols can directly interact with the TP heat pump because of their physical proximity both in location and elevation, has not been examined. This study uses the dust-coupled RegCM4.1 regional climate model (RCM) to simulate the spatiotemporal distribution of dust aerosols originating within the TP and their radiative effects on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during both heavy and light dust years. Two 20-year simulations with and without the dust emission from TP showed that direct radiative cooling in the mid-troposphere induced by the TP locally produced dust aerosols resulted in an overall anticyclonic circulation anomaly in the low troposphere centered over the TP region. The northeasterly anomaly in the EASM region reduces its strength considerably. The simulations found a significant negative correlation between the TP column dust load produced by local emissions and the corresponding anomaly in the EASM index (r = −0.46). The locally generated TP dust can cause surface cooling far downstream in Bohai Gulf and the China–North Korea border area through stationary Rossby wave propagation. Although dust from within TP (mainly Qaidam Basin) is a relatively small portion of total Asian aerosols, its impacts on Asian monsoon and climate seems disproportionately large, likely owning to its higher elevation within TP itself.

scholarly journals Agricultural Adaptation to Global Warming in the Tibetan Plateau

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (19) ◽  
pp. 3686
Author(s):  
Yanling Song ◽  
Chunyi Wang ◽  
Hans W. Linderholm ◽  
Jinfeng Tian ◽  
Ying Shi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Winter Wheat ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Spring Wheat ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Agricultural Adaptation

The Tibetan plateau is one of the most sensitive areas in China and has been significantly affected by global warming. From 1961 to 2017, the annual air temperature increased by 0.32 °C/decade over the Tibetan Plateau, which is the highest in the whole of China. Furthermore, this is a trend that is projected to continue by 0.30 °C/decade from 2018 to 2050 due to global warming using the Regional Climate Model version 4 (RegCM4). The increased temperature trend in recent decades has been highest in winter, which has been positive for the safe dormancy of winter wheat. In order to investigate agricultural adaptation to climate change in the Tibetan plateau, we used the World Food Studies (WOFOST) cropping systems model and weather data from the regional climate model RegCM4, to simulate winter wheat production in Guide county between 2018 and 2050. The simulated winter wheat potential yields amounted to 6698.3 kg/ha from 2018 to 2050, which showed the wheat yields would increase by 81%, if winter wheat was planted instead of spring wheat in the Tibetan Plateau with the correct amount of irrigation water. These results indicate that there are not only risks to crop yields from climate change, but also potential benefits. Global warming introduced the possibility to plant winter wheat instead of spring wheat over the Tibetan Plateau. These findings are very important for farmers and government agencies dealing with agricultural adaptation in a warmer climate.

scholarly journals Future Changes in Surface Runoff over Korea Projected by a Regional Climate Model under A1B Scenario

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji-Woo Lee ◽  
Suryun Ham ◽  
Song-You Hong ◽  
Kei Yoshimura ◽  
Minsu Joh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Future Climate ◽  
Climate Simulation ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
The Future

This study assesses future change of surface runoff due to climate change over Korea using a regional climate model (RCM), namely, the Global/Regional Integrated Model System (GRIMs), Regional Model Program (RMP). The RMP is forced by future climate scenario, namely, A1B of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report (AR4). The RMP satisfactorily reproduces the observed seasonal mean and variation of surface runoff for the current climate simulation. The distribution of monsoonal precipitation-related runoff is adequately captured by the RMP. In the future (2040–2070) simulation, it is shown that the increasing trend of temperature has significant impacts on the intra-annual runoff variation. The variability of runoff is increased in summer; moreover, the strengthened possibility of extreme occurrence is detected in the future climate. This study indicates that future climate projection, including surface runoff and its variability over Korea, can be adequately addressed on the RMP testbed. Furthermore, this study reflects that global warming affects local hydrological cycle by changing major water budget components. This study adduces that the importance of runoff should not be overlooked in regional climate studies, and more elaborate presentation of fresh-water cycle is needed to close hydrological circulation in RCMs.

scholarly journals Comparison of Cenozoic surface uplift and glacial-interglacial cycles on Himalaya-Tibet paleo-climate: Insights from a regional climate model

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heiko Paeth ◽  
Christian Steger ◽  
Jingmin Li ◽  
Sebastian G. Mutz ◽  
Todd A. Ehlers
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Climate Anomalies ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract. Assessing paleo-climatic changes across the Tibetan Plateau and the underlying driving mechanisms provides insights for the natural variability in the Earth's climate system in response to tectonic processes and global climate change. In this study, we use a high-resolution regional climate model to investigate various episodes of distinct climate states over the Tibetan Plateau region during the Cenozoic rise of the Plateau and Quaternary glacial/interglacial cycles. The main objective is to compare climate changes during the Miocene-Pliocene uplift period with climate anomalies during the last glacial maximum and the mid-Holocene optimum, based on a consistent modeling framework. Reduced plateau elevation leads to regionally differentiated patterns of higher temperature and lower precipitation amount on the plateau itself, whereas surrounding regions are subject to colder conditions. In particular, Central Asia receives much more precipitation prior to the uplift, mainly due to a shift of the stationary wave train over Eurasia. Cluster analysis indicates that the continental-desert type climate, which is widespread over Central Asia today, appears with the Tibetan Plateau reaching 50 % of its present-day elevation. The mid-Holocene is characterized by slightly colder temperatures, and the last glacial maximum by considerably colder conditions over most of central and southern Asia. Precipitation anomalies during these episodes are less pronounced and spatially heterogeneous over the Tibetan Plateau. The simulated changes are in good agreement with available paleo-climatic reconstructions from proxy data. The present-day climate classification is only slightly sensitive to the changed boundary conditions in the Quaternary Quaternary. It is shown that in some regions of the Tibetan Plateau the climate anomalies during the Quaternary Quaternary have been as strong as the changes occurring during the uplift period.

Projected changes in precipitation recycling over the Tibetan Plateau based on a global and regional climate model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongwen Zhang ◽  
Yanhong Gao
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Climate System Model ◽  
Precipitation Recycling ◽  
Mean Square Errors

AbstractPrecipitation recycling, as represented by the precipitation contributed by locally evaporated water vapor, is a key indicator of regional changes in the water cycle. The Quasi Isentropic Back-Trajectory method, combined with a global climate model [Community Climate System Model (CCSM)] and regional climate model [Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulation forced by CCSM (WRF-CCSM)], was used to analyze historical (1982–2005) and future (2090–2099) precipitation recycling over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The study focuses on the differences in the projection of precipitation recycling ratio (PRR) changes and relevant mechanisms between the fine-resolution (30 km) WRF-CCSM and coarse-resolution (~110 km) CCSM simulations. Compared with CCSM, the biases and root-mean-square errors of the historical evapotranspiration and precipitation over the TP were greatly reduced in the WRF-CCSM simulation, particularly in precipitation. Using WRF-CCSM outputs, higher PRRs in all elevation bands, as well as the opposite seasonal pattern and linear trend of PRR for the river basins in the northern TP, were revealed. Unlike the CCSM projections, WRF-CCSM projects increasing trends of PRR changes with elevation under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, with the largest increase at an elevation of about 5000 m. WRF-CCSM projects a diverse spatial and seasonal pattern of PRR changes, in contrast to the uniform decrease projected by CCSM. The larger fractional increases of future evapotranspiration contribution (precipitation contributed by local evapotranspiration) per unit warming than precipitation changes in WRF-CCSM suggests an enhanced contribution of locally evaporated moisture to total precipitation in the future under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document