%0 Journal Article
%4 sid.inpe.br/mtc-m19/2013/06.09.02.31.04
%2 sid.inpe.br/mtc-m19/2013/06.09.02.31.05
%@doi 10.1007/s00382-013-1667-2
%@issn 0930-7575
%F scopus
%T Evaluation of an ensemble of regional climate model simulations over South America driven by the ERA-Interim reanalysis: model performance and uncertainties
%D 2013
%A Solman, Silvina A.,
%A Sanchez, E.,
%A Samuelsson, P.,
%A Rocha, R. P. da,
%A Li, L.,
%A Marengo, José Antonio,
%A Pessacg, N. L.,
%A Remedio, A. R. C.,
%A Chou, Sin Chan,
%A Berbery, H.,
%A Le Treut, H.,
%A Castro, M. de,
%A Jacob, D.,
%@affiliation Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera (CIMA/CONICET-UBA), DCAO/FCEN-UBA, UMI IFAECI/CNRS, Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón II Piso 2, Buenos Aires, C1428EGA, Argentina
%@affiliation Facultad Ciencias Ambientales y Bioquimica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain
%@affiliation Rossby Centre, SMHI, Norrköping, 601 76, Sweden
%@affiliation Departamento de Ciencias Atmosfericas, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofisica e Ciencias Atmosfericas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
%@affiliation Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL, CNRS/UPMC, Paris, France
%@affiliation Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)
%@affiliation Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT/CONICET), Puerto Madryn, U9120ACF, Argentina
%@affiliation Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, 20146, Germany
%@affiliation Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE)
%@affiliation Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC), University of Maryland, 5825 University Research Court, Suite 4001, College Park, 20740-3823, United States
%@affiliation Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, IPSL, CNRS/UPMC, Paris, France
%@affiliation Facultad Ciencias Ambientales y Bioquimica, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Toledo, Spain
%@affiliation Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, 20146, Germany; Climate Service Center, Hamburg, 20095, Germany
%@electronicmailaddress solman@cima.fcen.uba.ar
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress jose.marengo@inpe.br
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress
%@electronicmailaddress chou@cptec.inpe.br
%B Climate Dynamics
%V 41
%N 5-6
%P 1139-1157
%K regional climate models, mean climate, South America, CORDEX, uncertainty.
%X The capability of a set of 7 coordinated regional climate model simulations performed in the framework of the CLARIS-LPB Project in reproducing the mean climate conditions over the South American continent has been evaluated. The model simulations were forced by the ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset for the period 1990-2008 on a grid resolution of 50 km, following the CORDEX protocol. The analysis was focused on evaluating the reliability of simulating mean precipitation and surface air temperature, which are the variables most commonly used for impact studies. Both the common features and the differences among individual models have been evaluated and compared against several observational datasets. In this study the ensemble bias and the degree of agreement among individual models have been quantified. The evaluation was focused on the seasonal means, the area-averaged annual cycles and the frequency distributions of monthly means over target sub-regions. Results show that the Regional Climate Model ensemble reproduces adequately well these features, with biases mostly within ±2 °C and ±20 % for temperature and precipitation, respectively. However, the multi-model ensemble depicts larger biases and larger uncertainty (as defined by the standard deviation of the models) over tropical regions compared with subtropical regions. Though some systematic biases were detected particularly over the La Plata Basin region, such as underestimation of rainfall during winter months and overestimation of temperature during summer months, every model shares a similar behavior and, consequently, the uncertainty in simulating current climate conditions is low. Every model is able to capture the variety in the shape of the frequency distribution for both temperature and precipitation along the South American continent. Differences among individual models and observations revealed the nature of individual model biases, showing either a shift in the distribution or an overestimation or underestimation of the range of variability. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
%@language en
%3 10.1007_s00382-013-1667-2.pdf