Dynamical Downscaling–Based Projections of Great Lakes Water Levels

Projections of regional climate, net basin supply (NBS), and water levels are developed for the mid- and late twenty-first century across the Laurentian Great Lakes basin. Two state-of-the-art global climate models (GCMs) are dynamically downscaled using a regional climate model (RCM) interactively...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of climate 2015-12, Vol.28 (24), p.9721-9745
Main Authors: Notaro, Michael, Bennington, Val, Lofgren, Brent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air temperature
Annual precipitation
Annual temperatures
Climate
Climate change
Climate models
Climatic zones
Evaporation
Freshwater resources
Global climate
Global climate models
Global warming
Hydrologic models
Hydrology
Ice
Ice cover
Lake evaporation
Lake ice
Lake levels
Lake temperatures
Lakes
Modeling
Modelling
Precipitation
Regional climate models
Regional climates
Regional development
Runoff
Seasonal variation
Shipping
Shipping industry
Simulation
Simulations
Snow
Surface fluxes
Water levels
Water quality
Water temperature
Watersheds
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Summary:Projections of regional climate, net basin supply (NBS), and water levels are developed for the mid- and late twenty-first century across the Laurentian Great Lakes basin. Two state-of-the-art global climate models (GCMs) are dynamically downscaled using a regional climate model (RCM) interactively coupled to a one-dimensional lake model, and then a hydrologic routing model is forced with time series of perturbed NBS. The dynamical downscaling and coupling with a lake model to represent the Great Lakes create added value beyond the parent GCM in terms of simulated seasonal cycles of temperature, precipitation, and surface fluxes. However, limitations related to this rudimentary treatment of the Great Lakes result in warm summer biases in lake temperatures, excessive ice cover, and an abnormally early peak in lake evaporation. While the downscaling of both GCMs led to consistent projections of increases in annual air temperature, precipitation, and all NBS components (overlake precipitation, basinwide runoff, and lake evaporation), the resulting projected water level trends are opposite in sign. Clearly, it is not sufficient to correctly simulate the signs of the projected change in each NBS component; one must also account for their relative magnitudes. The potential risk of more frequent episodes of lake levels below the low water datum, a critical shipping threshold, is explored.
ISSN:0894-8755
1520-0442
DOI:10.1175/jcli-d-14-00847.1