In un articolo pubblicato di recente su International Journal of Climatology un gruppo di scienziati (tra questi, i ricercatori CMCC E. Bucchignani, P. Mercogliano, G. Rianna) ha valutato le capacità del modello climatico regionale COSMO-CLM di riprodurre le principali caratteristiche climatiche nel dominio Medio Oriente-Nord Africa. Dal confronto con i modelli climatici regionali attualmente disponibili, i risultati hanno evidenziato una buona accuratezza del modello nel rappresentare la circolazione generale, e una soddisfacente rappresentazione della temperatura, confermando come gli schemi di parametrizzazione adottati per albedo e aerosol abbiano portato a un significativo miglioramento delle performance del modello.

L’abstract dell’articolo:

This study aimed to assess the capabilities of the regional climate model (RCM) COSMO-CLM in reproducing the main climate features of the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) domain. Two ERA-Interim-driven simulations were performed at 0.44° and 0.22° spatial resolution for the period 1979–2011 with an optimized model configuration. Model response has been analysed in terms of low level circulation, 2-m temperature, precipitation and cloud cover. Evaluation was conducted with respect to a combination of available ground observations, satellite products and reanalysis. Results reveal a good accuracy of the model in reproducing the circulation and a satisfactory representation of temperature, compared with other state-of-art RCMs, confirming that the albedo and aerosol parameterization schemes adopted lead to a remarkable improvement in model performances. The effects of increasing spatial resolution on the quality of the results have also been investigated. A comparison between the two simulations revealed that improvements with the resolution increase have been achieved for the temperature interannual variability, for monthly precipitation mean values, for cloud cover and for the representation of extreme precipitation events.

Leggi la versione integrale dell’articolo:
Bucchignani E., Mercogliano P., Rianna G., Panitz  H.
Analysis of ERA-Interim-driven COSMO-CLM simulations over Middle East – North Africa domain at different spatial resolutions
2015, International Journal of Climatology, DOI: 10.1002/joc.4559