Toshiyuki Kitajima, Kazuyoshi Yoshimatsu, Hiroshi Ohno and Koji Ishihara
Release Date: March 18, 2010

Reproducibility of Regional-Mean Probable Precipitation by High-Resolution Climate Models
Toshiyuki Kitajima1), Kazuyoshi Yoshimatsu1), Hiroshi Ohno1) and Koji Ishihara2)

1) Japan Meteorological Agency
2) Meteorological Research Institute

(Received: December 17, 2009)
(Accepted for publication: March 3, 2010)

Abstract:
We assessed the reproducibility of regional-mean probable precipitation in Japan estimated based on the results of three runs of a 20km-mesh global climate model (MRI-GCM20) and one run of a 20km-mesh regional climate model (MRI-RCM20). These models inappropriately simulate the annual maximum daily precipitation at individual grid points, especially in relation to the spatial pattern, but estimate the regional mean reasonably well. MRI-GCM20 runs simulated data over annual maximum regional-mean 10-day precipitation better than 1-day. Precipitation and return values estimated by MRI-GCM20 were quite different from those by MRI-RCM20. Among the three MRI-GCM20 runs, one forced by SST without year-to-year variability estimated the standard deviation of the annual maximum precipitation as smaller than those forced by SST with year-to-year variability. The reproducibility of the average and standard deviation of the annual maximum precipitation is correlated with the reproducibility of 30-year return values.

[Full Text]

To cite this article:
Toshiyuki Kitajima, Kazuyoshi Yoshimatsu, Hiroshi Ohno and Koji Ishihara: “Reproducibility of Regional-Mean Probable Precipitation by High-Resolution Climate Models”, Hydrological Research Letters, Vol. 4, pp.20-24, (2010) .

doi:10.3178/hrl.4.20
JOI JST.JSTAGE/hrl/4.20
Copyright (c) 2010 Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources