Evaluation of Summer Temperature and Precipitation of EURO-CORDEX Regional Climate Simulations

Abstract

In this study six EURO-CORDEX regional climate simulations forced by reanalysis data (ERA-interim) are evaluated for summer temperature and precipitation. The simulations cover the region of Europe from 1990 to 2008. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the degree to which the characteristics of past climate are reproduced and to highlight systematic errors in the simulations. Results indicate that temperature is slightly overestimated by the ensemble (+0.3 °C), but for individual members the mean biases may be either negative or positive, ranging from −0.6 to +1.6 °C. All models are warmer than the E-OBS climatology in southern Europe, whereas the northern regions are mostly colder. Regarding summer precipitation, the ensemble mean relative bias is very small (+3 %), while biases of individual ensemble members can be positive or negative, reaching up to ±20 %. The spatial pattern of relative bias generally consists of wet northern and drier central European areas. For south Europe some models present clear underestimation of precipitation, while others have areas of positive relative bias.