Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Simulation of the Rain Belt of the West African Monsoon (WAM) in High Resolution CCLM Simulation

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ´16

  • 1719 Accesses

Abstract

We present the results of our regional climate modeling experiments conducted on ForHLR1, using the consortium for small-scale modeling (COSMO) regional climate model CCLM over West Africa. This work is embedded in the context of the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) research project. We conduct nested runs at 50 and 12 km resolution driven by ERA-Interim data to assess the modeled location and intensity of the tropical rainbelt over West Africa for the period 1979–2013. The simulation period includes the years 1983 and 1999 with observed extreme anomalies (dry as well as wet). These anomalies are captured by our experiment: The model reproduces the observed zonal-mean variations in precipitation within the range of comparable regional climate model (RCM) studies, but reduces the dry bias in the Golf of Guinea and shows an increased accuracy for the driest years in general. Based on these encouraging results, we are currently extending our work towards historical climate runs and climate projections for an improved understanding of the different processes involved in the West Africa climate system and their role in generating extreme climatic conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Browne, N.A.K., Sylla, M.B.: Regional climate model sensitivity to domain size for the simulation of the West African Summer Monsoon Rainfall. Int. J. Geophys. 2012, 17 (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Diaconescu, E.P., Gachon, P., Scinocca, J., Laprise, R.: Evaluation of daily precipitation statistics and monsoon onset retreat over Western Sahel in multiple data sets. Clim. Dyn. 45 (5–6), 1325–1354 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Doms, G., Förstner, J., Heise, E., Herzog, H., Mironov, D., Raschendorfer, M., Reinhardt, T., Ritter, B., Schrodin, R., Schulz, J.-P., et al.: A description of the nonhydrostatic regional COSMO model. Part II: Physical Parameterization, p. 154 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Funk, C.C., Peterson, P.J., Landsfeld, M.F., Pedreros, D.H., Verdin, J.P., Rowland, J.D., Romero, B.E., Husak, G.J., Michaelsen, J.C., Verdin, A.P., et al.: A quasi-global precipitation time series for drought monitoring. U.S. Geolog. Surv. 832 (4), 4 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Gessner, U., Niklaus, M., Kuenzer, C., Dech, S.: Intercomparison of leaf area index products for a gradient of sub-humid to arid environments in West Africa. Remote Sens. 5 (3), 1235–1257 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Guillod, B.P., Davin, E.L., Kündig, C., Smiatek, G., Seneviratne, S.I.: Impact of soil map specifications for European climate simulations. Clim. Dyn. 40 (1–2), 123–141 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Huffman, G.J., Bolvin, D.T., Nelkin, E.J., Wolff, D.B., Adler, R.F., Gu, G., Hong, Y., Bowman, K.P., Stocker, E.F.: The TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis TMPA: quasi-global, multiyear, combined-sensor precipitation estimates at fine scales. J. Hydrometeorol. 8 (1), 38–55 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kaspar, F., Cubasch, U.: Simulation of East African precipitation patterns with the regional climate model CLM. Meteorol. Z. 17 (4), 511–517 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kothe, S., Ahrens, B.: On the radiation budget in regional climate simulation for West Africa. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 115 (D23), 12 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kotlarski, S., Keuler, K., Christensen, O.B., Colette, A., Déqué, M., Gobiet, A., Goergen, K., Jacob, D., Lüthi, D., van Meijgaard, E., et al.: Regional climate modeling on European scales: a joint standard evaluation of the EURO-CORDEX RCM ensemble. Geosci. Model Dev. 7 (4), 1297–1333 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lawrence, P.J., Chase, T.N.: Representing a new MODIS consistent land surface in the Community Land Model (CLM 3.0). J. Geophys. Res. 112 (G1), 17 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Masson, V., Champeaux, J.L., Chauvin, F., Meriguet, C., Lacaze, R.: A global database of land surface parameters at 1 km resolution in meteorological and climate models. J. Clim. 16 (9), 1261–1282 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Masson, V., Champeaux, J.-L., Chauvin, F., Meriguet, C., Lacaze, R.: A global database of land surface parameters at 1 km resolution. Meteorol. Appl. 12 (1), 29–32 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mitchell, T.D., Jones, P.D.: An improved method of constructing a database of monthly climate observations and associated highresolution grids. Int. J. Climatol. 25 (6), 693–712 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Nikulin, G., Jones, C., Giorgi, F., Asrar, G., Büchner, M., Cerezo-Mota, R., Christensen, O.B., Déqué, M., Fernandez, J., Hänsler, A., et al.: Precipitation climatology in an ensemble of CORDEX-Africa regional climate simulations. J. Clim. 25 (18), 6057–6078 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Panitz, H.-J., Dosio, A., Büchner, M., Lüthi, D., Keuler, K.: COSMO-CLM (CCLM) Climate simulations over CORDEX-Africa domain: Analysis of the ERA-interim driven simulations at 0.44∘ and 0.22∘ resolution. Clim. Dyn. 42 (11–12), 3015–3038 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Rockel, B., Geyer, B.: The performance of the regional climate model CLM in different climate regions, based on the example of precipitation. Meteorol. Z. 17 (4), 487–498 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Schneider, U., Becker, A., Meyer-Christoffer, A., Ziese, M., Rudolf, B.: Global precipitation analysis products of the GPCC. Deutscher Wetterdienst (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Smiatek, G., Rockel, B., Schättler, U.: Time resolution data preprocessor for climate version of the COSMO Model COSMO-CLM. Meteorol. Z. 17 (4), 395–405 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was study funded by the German Federal Ministry of Science and Education (BMBF) within the WASCAL project. The authors thank the Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) for providing access to the ForHLR I supercomputer.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-IFU), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Kreuzeckbahnstr.19, 82467, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

    Diarra Dieng, Gerhard Smiatek, Dominikus Heinzeller & Harald Kunstmann

  2. Institute of Geography, Chair for Regional Climate and Hydrology, University of Augsburg, 86135, Augsburg, Germany

    Diarra Dieng, Dominikus Heinzeller & Harald Kunstmann

Authors
  1. Diarra Dieng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gerhard Smiatek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dominikus Heinzeller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Harald Kunstmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Diarra Dieng .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrum für Informationsdienste und Hochleistungsrechnen (ZIH), Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Wolfgang E. Nagel

  2. Abteilung für Angewandte Mathematik, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Dietmar H. Kröner

  3. Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart (HLRS), Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Michael M. Resch

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Cite this paper

Dieng, D., Smiatek, G., Heinzeller, D., Kunstmann, H. (2016). Simulation of the Rain Belt of the West African Monsoon (WAM) in High Resolution CCLM Simulation. In: Nagel, W.E., Kröner, D.H., Resch, M.M. (eds) High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering ´16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47066-5_37

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation