Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin
The ability of 14 general circulation models (GCMs) to realistically simulate weather patterns and precipitation regimes affecting the Mackenzie River Basin has been assessed. Applying the method of self-organizing maps to daily data from the model ensemble and the 40-year reanalysis project of the...
Published in: | International Journal of Climatology |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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John Wiley & Sons
2009
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Online Access: | http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-312 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1753 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_15321 2023-09-05T13:17:25+02:00 Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin Finnis, Joel (author) Cassano, John (author) Holland, Marika (author) Serreze, Mark (author) Uotila, Petteri (author) 2009-07-01 http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-312 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1753 en eng John Wiley & Sons International Journal of Climatology http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-312 doi:10.1002/joc.1753 ark:/85065/d7xk8gkt Copyright 2009 Royal Meteorological Society. Text article 2009 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1753 2023-08-14T18:36:08Z The ability of 14 general circulation models (GCMs) to realistically simulate weather patterns and precipitation regimes affecting the Mackenzie River Basin has been assessed. Applying the method of self-organizing maps to daily data from the model ensemble and the 40-year reanalysis project of the ECWMF (ERA-40), a regional synoptic climatology of sea level pressure was developed and used to analyse the model output. GCM performance, as compared with ERA-40, varies significantly between models and seasons, but is generally best during the summer and winter. In-depth examination of a five-model subset reveals biases in the placement of the Pacific storm track, which may be related to misrepresentations of the Beaufort High. Biases in Mackenzie Basin precipitation are only weakly connected to these circulation errors, and are, instead, primarily the result of inaccurate representations of basin-scale precipitation regimes. In particular, models allow excessive orographic precipitation along the west coast of North America to intrude into the Mackenzie Basin. These results suggest that projections of the Mackenzie's response to climate change could benefit from climate downscaling studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Mackenzie Basin Mackenzie river OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Arctic Mackenzie River Pacific International Journal of Climatology 29 9 1226 1243 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
The ability of 14 general circulation models (GCMs) to realistically simulate weather patterns and precipitation regimes affecting the Mackenzie River Basin has been assessed. Applying the method of self-organizing maps to daily data from the model ensemble and the 40-year reanalysis project of the ECWMF (ERA-40), a regional synoptic climatology of sea level pressure was developed and used to analyse the model output. GCM performance, as compared with ERA-40, varies significantly between models and seasons, but is generally best during the summer and winter. In-depth examination of a five-model subset reveals biases in the placement of the Pacific storm track, which may be related to misrepresentations of the Beaufort High. Biases in Mackenzie Basin precipitation are only weakly connected to these circulation errors, and are, instead, primarily the result of inaccurate representations of basin-scale precipitation regimes. In particular, models allow excessive orographic precipitation along the west coast of North America to intrude into the Mackenzie Basin. These results suggest that projections of the Mackenzie's response to climate change could benefit from climate downscaling studies. |
author2 |
Finnis, Joel (author) Cassano, John (author) Holland, Marika (author) Serreze, Mark (author) Uotila, Petteri (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
spellingShingle |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
title_short |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
title_full |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
title_fullStr |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
title_full_unstemmed |
Synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major Arctic watersheds in general circulation models; Part I: The Mackenzie River Basin |
title_sort |
synoptically forced hydroclimatology of major arctic watersheds in general circulation models; part i: the mackenzie river basin |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-312 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1753 |
geographic |
Arctic Mackenzie River Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Mackenzie River Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Mackenzie Basin Mackenzie river |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Mackenzie Basin Mackenzie river |
op_relation |
International Journal of Climatology http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-002-312 doi:10.1002/joc.1753 ark:/85065/d7xk8gkt |
op_rights |
Copyright 2009 Royal Meteorological Society. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.1753 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1226 |
op_container_end_page |
1243 |
_version_ |
1776198601057239040 |