A description of the fifth-generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5)

Grell, A.; Dudhia, Jimy; Stauffer, D.

doi:10.5065/d60z716b

Cited by 762 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The version used in the present study is RegCM4.7. The MM5 (Mesoscale Model version 5; Grell et al, 1994) non-hydrostatic dynamical core has been ported to RegCM without removing the existing hydrostatic core. RegCM4 is a limited-area model using a sigma pressure vertical grid and the finite differencing algorithm of the Arakawa B-grid (Giorgi et al, 2012).…”

Section: Model Description and Observed Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 1: Impact on the climate mean

Koné

Diedhiou

Diawara

et al. 2022

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The impact of soil moisture initial conditions on the mean climate over West Africa was examined using the latest version of the regional climate model of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (RegCM4) at a 25 km horizontal resolution. The soil moisture reanalysis of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis of the 20th century (ERA-20C) was used to initialize the control experiment, while its minimum and maximum values over the entire domain were used to establish the respective initial dry and wet soil moisture conditions (hereafter referred to as dry and wet experiments, respectively). For the respective control, wet and dry experiments, an ensemble of five runs from June to September was performed. In each experiment, we analyzed the two idealized simulations most sensitive to the dry and wet soil moisture initial conditions. The impact of soil moisture initial conditions on precipitation in West Africa is linear over the Central and West Sahel regions, where dry (wet) experiments lead to a rainfall decrease (increase). The strongest precipitation increase is found over the West Sahel for wet experiments, with a maximum change value of approximately 40 %, whereas the strongest precipitation decrease is found for dry experiments over the Central Sahel, with a peak change of approximately −4 %. The sensitivity of soil moisture initial conditions can persist for 3–4 months (90–120 d) depending on the region. However, the influence on precipitation is no longer than 1 month (between 15 and 30 d). The strongest temperature decrease is located over the Central and West Sahel, with a maximum change of approximately −1.5 ∘C in wet experiments, whereas the strongest temperature increase is found over the Guinea coast and Central Sahel for the dry experiments, with a maximum change of around 0.6 ∘C. A significant impact of soil moisture initial conditions on the surface energy fluxes is noted: in the wet (dry) experiments, a cooling (warming) of the surface temperature is associated with a decrease (increase) in sensible heat flux, an increase (decrease) in latent heat flux and a decrease (increase) in the boundary layer depth. Part 2 of this study (Koné et al., 2022) investigates the influence of soil moisture initial conditions on climate extremes.

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Section: Model Description and Observed Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 1: Impact on the climate mean

Koné

Diedhiou

Diawara

et al. 2022

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…The release used in this study was RegCM4.7. The non-hydrostatic dynamical core of the MM5 (Mesoscale Model version 5; Grell et al, 1994) was ported to RegCM4 while maintaining the existing hydrostatic core. RegCM4 is a limited-area model using a vertical grid sigma hydrostatic pressure coordinate and a horizontal grid of the Arakawa B-grid (Giorgi et al, 2012).…”

Section: Model Description and Numerical Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 2: Impact on the climate extremes

Koné

Diedhiou

Diawara

et al. 2022

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The influence of soil moisture initial conditions on the climate extreme indices over West Africa was investigated using the fourth generation of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics regional climate model (non-hydrostatic) coupled with version 4.5 of the Community Land Model (RegCM4–CLM4.5) at a 25 km spatial resolution. We initialized the control experiments with the reanalysis soil moisture data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis of the 20th century (ERA-20C), while we initialized the dry and wet experiments with the maximum and minimum soil moisture values over the West Africa domain, respectively. For each experiment, an ensemble of five runs was performed for 5 years (2001–2005) with soil moisture initial conditions for the runs prescribed on 1 June and the simulations being performed over 4 months (122 d) from June to September. The performance of RegCM4–CLM4.5 with respect to simulating the 10 extreme rainfall and temperature indices used in this study is presented. The results are then discussed for the two idealized simulations that are most sensitive to the dry and wet soil moisture initial conditions in order to highlight the impacts beyond the limits of soil moisture internal forcing in the model. Over the Central Sahel, dry (wet) experiments lead to a decrease (increase) in precipitation extreme indices related to the number of events, but this was not seen for indices related to the intensity of the events. Soil moisture initial conditions unequally affect the daily minimum and maximum temperatures. The strongest impact is found on the maximum temperature: wet (dry) experiments decrease (increase) the maximum temperature over the whole region. Over the Central Sahel, wet (dry) experiments lead to a decrease (increase) in the maximum values of the minimum temperature.

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“…To examine future susceptibility of the Great Lakes region to potentially critical winter temperatures, simulations from six GCM models within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase Five (CMIP5) (Meehl et al, 2009;Taylor et al, 2012) were dynamically downscaled to 25-km grid spacing using RegCM4 (Notaro et al, 2015(Notaro et al, , 2016. RegCM4 is a compressible, hydrostatic finite difference model based on the fifth generation Pennsylvania State University-National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5; Grell et al, 1994). The version of RegCM4 used in this study is coupled to a one-dimensional energy-balance lake model with a lake ice submodel to account for vertical heat transfer between lake and atmosphere (Patterson and Hamblin, 1988;Hostetler and Bartlein, 1990;Hostetler, 1991;Notaro et al, 2013aNotaro et al, , 2013b.…”

Section: Rcm-gcm Combinationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme minimum temperatures in the Great Lakes region of the United States: A climatology with implications for insect mortality

Kiefer

Andresen

McCullough

et al. 2021

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Winter‐season extreme minimum temperatures may play a major role in limiting population growth and spread of the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) (Adelges tsugae Annand) (Hemiptera: Adelgidae), an invasive sap‐feeding insect that has caused extensive mortality of hemlock trees (Tsuga spp.) in many eastern United States (US) forests. This atypical insect feeds throughout the winter but populations can sustain high mortality when winter‐season extreme minimum temperatures drop below −20 to −30°C. Detection of HWA in Michigan during 2015 motivated interest in HWA winter survival in the US Great Lakes region. Here, we used the parameter‐elevation regressions on independent slopes model (PRISM) gridded daily minimum temperature dataset to construct a 1981–2018 climatology of extreme minimum temperatures in the Great Lakes region, the first such effort for this region. Metrics examined include absolute and mean annual extreme minimum temperatures (defined as the lowest daily minimum temperature during the study period and the study‐period mean lowest daily minimum temperature during each calendar year, respectively), and the frequency of daily minimum temperatures below −20 and −30°C. Minimum temperature patterns we identified support the following two hypotheses: first, proximity to water, surface elevation and latitude are the principal controls for extreme minimum temperatures in the Great Lakes region; second, the modifying influence of the relatively warm Lake Michigan serves to protect locations within about 10–25 km of the lakeshore from severe and potentially lethal temperatures for HWA. Analysis of projected minimum temperatures at the end of the 21st century (2080–2099) reveals a range of HWA distribution expansion scenarios. Although the original motivation for this study arose from interest in potential HWA mortality, a climatological study of extreme minimum temperatures has potentially broad relevance to, for example, human health and safety and forest ecology.

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A description of the fifth-generation Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5)

Cited by 762 publications

References 35 publications

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 1: Impact on the climate mean

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 1: Impact on the climate mean

Influence of initial soil moisture in a regional climate model study over West Africa – Part 2: Impact on the climate extremes

Extreme minimum temperatures in the Great Lakes region of the United States: A climatology with implications for insect mortality

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