Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.

An atmosphere-ocean regional climate model for the Mediterranean area: Assessment of a present climate simulation

TitleAn atmosphere-ocean regional climate model for the Mediterranean area: Assessment of a present climate simulation
Publication TypeArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsArtale, V., Calmanti Sandro, Carillo Adriana, Dell'Aquila Alessandro, Herrmann M., Pisacane Giovanna, Ruti P.M., Sannino Gianmaria, Struglia Maria Vittoria, Giorgi F., Bi X., Pal J.S., and Rauscher S.
JournalClimate Dynamics
Volume35
Pagination721-740
Type of ArticleArticle
ISSN09307575
Keywordsair-sea interaction, annual variation, assessment method, atmosphere-ocean coupling, climate modeling, data set, Mediterranean Sea, observational method, Regional climate, sea surface temperature, temperature anomaly, wind field
Abstract

We present an atmosphere-ocean regional climate model for the Mediterranean basin, called the PROTHEUS system, composed by the regional climate model RegCM3 as the atmospheric component and by a regional configuration of the MITgcm model as the oceanic component. The model is applied to an area encompassing the Mediterranean Sea and compared to a stand-alone version of its atmospheric component. An assessment of the model performances is done by using available observational datasets. Despite a persistent bias, the PROTHEUS system is able to capture the inter-annual variability of seasonal sea surface temperature (SST) and also the fine scale spatio-temporal evolution of observed SST anomalies, with spatial correlation as high as 0.7 during summer. The close inspection of a 10-day strong wind event during the summer of 2000 proves the capability of the PROTHEUS system to correctly describe the daily evolution of SST under strong air-sea interaction conditions. As a consequence of the model's skill in reproducing observed SST and wind fields, we expect a reliable estimation of air-sea fluxes. The model skill in reproducing climatological land surface fields is in line with that of state of the art regional climate models. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.

Notes

cited By 65

URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957018022&doi=10.1007%2fs00382-009-0691-8&partnerID=40&md5=e1f9a64401545394bb5b623427729068
DOI10.1007/s00382-009-0691-8
Citation KeyArtale2010721