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Article
Regional Extreme Monthly Precipitation Simulated by NARCCAP RCMs
Journal of Hydrometeorology
  • William J. Gutowski, Jr., Iowa State University
  • Raymond W. Arritt, Iowa State University
  • Sho Kawazoe, Iowa State University
  • David M. Flory, Iowa State University
  • Eugene S. Takle, Iowa State University
  • Sébastien Biner, Ouranos
  • Richard G. Jones, Hadley Center
  • René Laprise, Université du Québec à Montréal
  • L. Ruby Leung, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Linda O. Mearns, National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • Wilfran Moufouma-Okia, Hadley Center
  • Ana M. B. Nunes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
  • Yun Qian, National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • John O. Roads, University of California, San Diego
  • Lisa C. Sloan, University of California, Santa Cruz
  • Mark A. Snyder, University of California, Santa Cruz
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
12-1-2010
DOI
10.1175/2010JHM1297.1
Abstract

This paper analyzes the ability of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) ensemble of regional climate models to simulate extreme monthly precipitation and its supporting circulation for regions of North America, comparing 18 years of simulations driven by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis with observations. The analysis focuses on the wettest 10% of months during the cold half of the year (October–March), when it is assumed that resolved synoptic circulation governs precipitation. For a coastal California region where the precipitation is largely topographic, the models individually and collectively replicate well the monthly frequency of extremes, the amount of extreme precipitation, and the 500-hPa circulation anomaly associated with the extremes. The models also replicate very well the statistics of the interannual variability of occurrences of extremes. For an interior region containing the upper Mississippi River basin, where precipitation is more dependent on internally generated storms, the models agree with observations in both monthly frequency and magnitude, although not as closely as for coastal California. In addition, simulated circulation anomalies for extreme months are similar to those in observations. Each region has important seasonally varying precipitation processes that govern the occurrence of extremes in the observations, and the models appear to replicate well those variations.

Comments

This article is from J. Hydrometeor, 11, 1373–1379. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2010JHM1297.1. Posted with permission.

Rights
Copyright 2010 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a website or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. All AMS journals and monograph publications are registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (http://www.copyright.com). Questions about permission to use materials for which AMS holds the copyright can also be directed to the AMS Permissions Officer at permissions@ametsoc.org. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy statement, available on the AMS website (http://www.ametsoc.org/CopyrightInformation).
Copyright Owner
American Meteorological Society
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
William J. Gutowski, Raymond W. Arritt, Sho Kawazoe, David M. Flory, et al.. "Regional Extreme Monthly Precipitation Simulated by NARCCAP RCMs" Journal of Hydrometeorology Vol. 11 Iss. 6 (2010) p. 1373 - 1379
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/william-gutowski/32/