Current status of representation of relevant Caribbean climate features by regional climate models. Sensitivity and validation studies

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Alejandro Vichot Llano
Daniel Martínez Castro

Abstract

Since the beginning of this century, the regional climate models PRECIS and RegCM have been applied  for  downscaling  of  the  low-resolution global reanalysis, based on observations and the outputs of global climate models, also limited in their resolution. Research has focused primarily on the validation of these models, based on their use for climate studies in the Caribbean region and the comparison of their results with observational databases. At the same time, sensitivity studies have been conducted about the dependence of the performance of the models with changes in their configuration, including domain, resolution and physical processes parameterization. The models have also been used for the downsaling of global climate model projections in climate change studies. This paper will focus on the main results obtained in the validation of these models and in sensitivity studies, focusing mainly on their ability to describe the precipitation and temperature fields and well known regional climatic features, such as midsummer drought, the Caribbean low level jet and the occurrence of tropical cyclones. It is concluded that the obtained results allow asserting that, although biases persist in some sub regions and insufficiencies in the performance of the models, there are a series of configurations that reasonably describe the climate of the region. The multi-parameter or multi-model ensemble method is recommended to obtain future climate predictions.

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LlanoA. V., & CastroD. M. (2017). Current status of representation of relevant Caribbean climate features by regional climate models. Sensitivity and validation studies. Revista Cubana De Meteorología, 23(2), 232-261. Retrieved from http://rcm.insmet.cu/index.php/rcm/article/view/243
Section
Review

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