On the role of domain size and resolution in the simulations with the HIRHAM region climate model

Morten A.D. Larsen; Peter Thejll; Jens H. Christensen; Jens C. Refsgaard; Karsten H. Jensen

doi:10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y

On the role of domain size and resolution in the simulations with the HIRHAM region climate model

Morten A.D. Larsen, Peter Thejll, Jens H. Christensen, Jens C. Refsgaard, Karsten H. Jensen

Department of Hydrology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We investigate the simulated temperature and precipitation of the HIRHAM regional climate model using systematic variations in domain size, resolution and detailed location in a total of eight simulations. HIRHAM was forced by ERA-Interim boundary data and the simulations focused on higher resolutions in the range of 5.5-12 km. HIRHAM outputs of seasonal precipitation and temperature were assessed by calculating distributed model errors against a higher resolution data set covering Denmark and a 0.25° resolution data set covering Europe. Furthermore the simulations were statistically tested against the Danish data set using bootstrap statistics. The results from the distributed validation of precipitation showed lower errors for the winter (DJF) season compared to the spring (MAM), fall (SON) and, in particular, summer (JJA) seasons for both validation data sets. For temperature, the pattern was in the opposite direction, with the lowest errors occurring for the JJA season. These seasonal patterns between precipitation and temperature are seen in the bootstrap analysis. It also showed that using a 4,000 × 2,800 km simulation with an 11 km resolution produced the highest significance levels. Also, the temperature errors were more highly significant than precipitation. In similarly sized domains, 12 of 16 combinations of variables, observation validation data and seasons showed better results for the highest resolution domain, but generally the most significant improvements were seen when varying the domain size.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2903-2918
Number of pages	16
Journal	Climate Dynamics
Volume	40
Issue number	11-12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y
Publication status	Published - Jun 2013

Keywords

Climate model
Domain
HIRHAM
Precipitation
RCM
Temperature

Programme Area

Programme Area 5: Nature and Climate

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y

Cite this

@article{952101f6a49642a5b4559d5daaa3b056,

title = "On the role of domain size and resolution in the simulations with the HIRHAM region climate model",

abstract = "We investigate the simulated temperature and precipitation of the HIRHAM regional climate model using systematic variations in domain size, resolution and detailed location in a total of eight simulations. HIRHAM was forced by ERA-Interim boundary data and the simulations focused on higher resolutions in the range of 5.5-12 km. HIRHAM outputs of seasonal precipitation and temperature were assessed by calculating distributed model errors against a higher resolution data set covering Denmark and a 0.25° resolution data set covering Europe. Furthermore the simulations were statistically tested against the Danish data set using bootstrap statistics. The results from the distributed validation of precipitation showed lower errors for the winter (DJF) season compared to the spring (MAM), fall (SON) and, in particular, summer (JJA) seasons for both validation data sets. For temperature, the pattern was in the opposite direction, with the lowest errors occurring for the JJA season. These seasonal patterns between precipitation and temperature are seen in the bootstrap analysis. It also showed that using a 4,000 × 2,800 km simulation with an 11 km resolution produced the highest significance levels. Also, the temperature errors were more highly significant than precipitation. In similarly sized domains, 12 of 16 combinations of variables, observation validation data and seasons showed better results for the highest resolution domain, but generally the most significant improvements were seen when varying the domain size.",

keywords = "Climate model, Domain, HIRHAM, Precipitation, RCM, Temperature",

author = "Larsen, {Morten A.D.} and Peter Thejll and Christensen, {Jens H.} and Refsgaard, {Jens C.} and Jensen, {Karsten H.}",

note = "Funding Information: The present study was funded by a grant from the Danish Strategic Research Council for the project HYdrological Modelling for Assessing Climate Change Impacts at differeNT Scales (HYACINTS– www.hyacints.dk ) under contract no: DSF-EnMi 2104-07-0008. We acknowledge the E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES ( http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com ), the data providers in the ECA&D project ( http://eca.knmi.nl ), the HOBE project (Jensen and Illangasekare ) and the CRES project ( http://cres-centre.net ). Also we would like to thank, Simon Stisen, Philippe Lucas-Picher, S{\o}ren H{\o}jmark Rasmussen, Ole B{\o}ssing Christensen, Frederik Boberg, Martin Drews, Flemming Vejen and Michael Scharling for assistance and comments during the process.",

year = "2013",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y",

language = "English",

volume = "40",

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journal = "Climate Dynamics",

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T1 - On the role of domain size and resolution in the simulations with the HIRHAM region climate model

AU - Larsen, Morten A.D.

AU - Thejll, Peter

AU - Christensen, Jens H.

AU - Refsgaard, Jens C.

AU - Jensen, Karsten H.

N1 - Funding Information: The present study was funded by a grant from the Danish Strategic Research Council for the project HYdrological Modelling for Assessing Climate Change Impacts at differeNT Scales (HYACINTS– www.hyacints.dk ) under contract no: DSF-EnMi 2104-07-0008. We acknowledge the E-OBS dataset from the EU-FP6 project ENSEMBLES ( http://ensembles-eu.metoffice.com ), the data providers in the ECA&D project ( http://eca.knmi.nl ), the HOBE project (Jensen and Illangasekare ) and the CRES project ( http://cres-centre.net ). Also we would like to thank, Simon Stisen, Philippe Lucas-Picher, Søren Højmark Rasmussen, Ole Bøssing Christensen, Frederik Boberg, Martin Drews, Flemming Vejen and Michael Scharling for assistance and comments during the process.

PY - 2013/6

Y1 - 2013/6

N2 - We investigate the simulated temperature and precipitation of the HIRHAM regional climate model using systematic variations in domain size, resolution and detailed location in a total of eight simulations. HIRHAM was forced by ERA-Interim boundary data and the simulations focused on higher resolutions in the range of 5.5-12 km. HIRHAM outputs of seasonal precipitation and temperature were assessed by calculating distributed model errors against a higher resolution data set covering Denmark and a 0.25° resolution data set covering Europe. Furthermore the simulations were statistically tested against the Danish data set using bootstrap statistics. The results from the distributed validation of precipitation showed lower errors for the winter (DJF) season compared to the spring (MAM), fall (SON) and, in particular, summer (JJA) seasons for both validation data sets. For temperature, the pattern was in the opposite direction, with the lowest errors occurring for the JJA season. These seasonal patterns between precipitation and temperature are seen in the bootstrap analysis. It also showed that using a 4,000 × 2,800 km simulation with an 11 km resolution produced the highest significance levels. Also, the temperature errors were more highly significant than precipitation. In similarly sized domains, 12 of 16 combinations of variables, observation validation data and seasons showed better results for the highest resolution domain, but generally the most significant improvements were seen when varying the domain size.

AB - We investigate the simulated temperature and precipitation of the HIRHAM regional climate model using systematic variations in domain size, resolution and detailed location in a total of eight simulations. HIRHAM was forced by ERA-Interim boundary data and the simulations focused on higher resolutions in the range of 5.5-12 km. HIRHAM outputs of seasonal precipitation and temperature were assessed by calculating distributed model errors against a higher resolution data set covering Denmark and a 0.25° resolution data set covering Europe. Furthermore the simulations were statistically tested against the Danish data set using bootstrap statistics. The results from the distributed validation of precipitation showed lower errors for the winter (DJF) season compared to the spring (MAM), fall (SON) and, in particular, summer (JJA) seasons for both validation data sets. For temperature, the pattern was in the opposite direction, with the lowest errors occurring for the JJA season. These seasonal patterns between precipitation and temperature are seen in the bootstrap analysis. It also showed that using a 4,000 × 2,800 km simulation with an 11 km resolution produced the highest significance levels. Also, the temperature errors were more highly significant than precipitation. In similarly sized domains, 12 of 16 combinations of variables, observation validation data and seasons showed better results for the highest resolution domain, but generally the most significant improvements were seen when varying the domain size.

KW - Climate model

KW - Domain

KW - HIRHAM

KW - Precipitation

KW - RCM

KW - Temperature

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U2 - 10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y

DO - 10.1007/s00382-012-1513-y

M3 - Article

SN - 0930-7575

VL - 40

SP - 2903

EP - 2918

JO - Climate Dynamics

JF - Climate Dynamics

IS - 11-12

ER -

On the role of domain size and resolution in the simulations with the HIRHAM region climate model

Abstract

Keywords

Programme Area

UN SDGs

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