RESUME / ABSTRACT  




The Development and Use of Regional Climate Models

par/by


Colin Jones

Univerisité du Québec à Montréal
Formerly Rossby Centre/SMHI Norrkoping,Sweden




This presentation will give an overview of the development and application of the Rossby Centre Coupled Regional Climate Model, developed at the Swedish Meteorological Service. Results will be presented illustrating the performance of the model over Europe, the Arctic and tropical Pacific for both present and future climates. The climate simulated by a regional climate model is first order sensitive to the quality of the applied boundary conditions. With this in mind, I will discuss the use of regional models as well constrained test beds for developing and evaluating parameterisation schemes for potential application in both global and regional models. Examples will be given of how a combination of regional models, single coulmn models and explicit (cloud resolving) models can be combined to aid in improving parameterisation schemes. Particular attention will be paid to the respresentation of moist processes and related subgrid scale transports (turbulence and convection) and their interaction with both solar and terrestrial radiation. Suggestions will be given for the most productive use of regional models in attempting to best provide reliable simulations of climate and future climate change .