Title | An atmosphere-ocean regional climate model for the Mediterranean area: Assessment of a present climate simulation |
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Publication Type | Articolo su Rivista peer-reviewed |
Year of Publication | 2010 |
Authors | Artale, 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. |
Journal | Climate Dynamics |
Volume | 35 |
Pagination | 721-740 |
Type of Article | Article |
ISSN | 09307575 |
Keywords | air-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 |
URL | https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-77957018022&doi=10.1007%2fs00382-009-0691-8&partnerID=40&md5=e1f9a64401545394bb5b623427729068 |
DOI | 10.1007/s00382-009-0691-8 |
Citation Key | Artale2010721 |