Non-Hydrostatic RegCM4 (RegCM4-NH): model description and case studies over multiple domains

We describe the development of a non-hydrostatic version of the regional climate model RegCM4, called RegCM4-NH, for use at convection-permitting resolutions. The non-hydrostatic dynamical core of the Mesoscale Model MM5 is introduced in the RegCM4, with some modifications to increase stability and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geoscientific Model Development 2021-12, Vol.14 (12), p.7705-7723
Main Authors: Coppola, Erika, Stocchi, Paolo, Pichelli, Emanuela, Torres Alavez, Jose Abraham, Glazer, Russell, Giuliani, Graziano, Di Sante, Fabio, Nogherotto, Rita, Giorgi, Filippo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Boundary conditions
Case studies
Climate
Climate models
Clouds
Convection
Cumulus convection
Domains
Experiments
Lakes
Mesoscale model MM5
Microphysics
Modelling
Parameterization
Physics
Precipitation
Regional climate models
Regional climates
Regional development
Simulation
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Summary:We describe the development of a non-hydrostatic version of the regional climate model RegCM4, called RegCM4-NH, for use at convection-permitting resolutions. The non-hydrostatic dynamical core of the Mesoscale Model MM5 is introduced in the RegCM4, with some modifications to increase stability and applicability of the model to long-term climate simulations. Newly available explicit microphysics schemes are also described, and three case studies of intense convection events are carried out in order to illustrate the performance of the model. They are all run at a convection-permitting grid spacing of 3 km over domains in northern California, Texas and the Lake Victoria region, without the use of parameterized cumulus convection. A substantial improvement is found in several aspects of the simulations compared to corresponding coarser-resolution (12 km) runs completed with the hydrostatic version of the model employing parameterized convection. RegCM4-NH is currently being used in different projects for regional climate simulations at convection-permitting resolutions and is intended to be a resource for users of the RegCM modeling system.
ISSN:1991-9603
1991-959X
1991-962X
1991-9603
1991-962X
DOI:10.5194/gmd-14-7705-2021