High-Resolution Climate Simulations Using GFDL HiRAM with a Stretched Global Grid

Harris, Lucas; Lin, Shian‐Jiann; Tu, Chih Yen

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-15-0389.1

Cited by 138 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…We will also present results from the shallow‐water configurations of the GFDL spectral core and of FV 3 . In addition, for FV 3 , we also present results from the nonhydrostatic solver and for a nonuniform stretched grid (Harris et al, ). It is found that while there are differences between each of the cores and the different solver configurations, the test case behaves similarly in all of the cores and configurations tested.…”

Section: Results From Three Dynamical Coresmentioning

confidence: 98%

Colliding Modons: A Nonlinear Test for the Evaluation of Global Dynamical Cores

Lin

Harris

Chen

et al. 2017

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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The modon, a pair of counter‐rotating vortices propelling one another along a straight line, is an idealization of some observed large‐scale and small‐scale atmospheric and oceanic processes (e.g., twin cyclones), providing a challenging nonlinear test for fluid‐dynamics solvers (known as “dynamical cores”). We present an easy‐to‐setup test of colliding modons suitable for both shallow‐water and three‐dimensional dynamical cores on the sphere. Two pairs of idealized modons are configured to collide, exchange vortices, and depart in opposite directions, repeating indefinitely in the absence of ambient rotation. This test is applicable to both hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic dynamical cores and is particularly challenging for refined grids on the sphere, regardless of solution methodology, or vertical coordinate. We applied this test to three popular dynamical cores, used by three different general circulation models: the Spectral‐Element (SE) core of the Community Atmosphere Model, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) spectral core, and the GFDL Finite‐Volume Cubed‐Sphere dynamical core (FV3). Tests with a locally refined grid and nonhydrostatic dynamics were also performed with FV3. All cores tested were able to capture the propagation, collision, and exchange of the modons, albeit the rate at which the modon was diffused varied between the three cores and showed a strong dependence on the strength of hyperdiffusion.

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Section: Results From Three Dynamical Coresmentioning

confidence: 98%

Colliding Modons: A Nonlinear Test for the Evaluation of Global Dynamical Cores

Lin

Harris

Chen

et al. 2017

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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“…- Harris et al (2016) tracked tropical cyclones in multiple climate datasets with regional resolution ranging from ∼ 75 km to ∼ 10 km. Candidates were identified from a minimum smoothed SLP no greater than 1013 hPa with 2 hPa closed contour not encircling another minimum.…”

Section: -Sugi Et Al (2002) Tracked Tropical Cyclones In a T106mentioning

confidence: 99%

TempestExtremes: a framework for scale-insensitive pointwise feature tracking on unstructured grids

2017

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Abstract. This paper describes a new open-source software framework for automated pointwise feature tracking that is applicable to a wide array of climate datasets using either structured or unstructured grids. Common climatological pointwise features include tropical cyclones, extratropical cyclones and tropical easterly waves. To enable support for a wide array of detection schemes, a suite of algorithmic kernels have been developed that capture the core functionality of algorithmic tracking routines throughout the literature. A review of efforts related to pointwise feature tracking from the past 3 decades is included. Selected results using both reanalysis datasets and unstructured grid simulations are provided.

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“…All events are associated with a low pressure system, of which eight (44 %, orange tracks in Fig. 9 methodology of Harris et al (2016) as implemented in Murakami et al (2015). Note that the low pressure systems of the top four events do not classify as tropical cyclones, showing the precipitation potential of non-tropical cyclone low pressure systems in the model.…”

Section: Meteorological Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid attribution of the August 2016 flood-inducing extreme precipitation in south Louisiana to climate change

Wiel

Kapnick

Oldenborgh

et al. 2017

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

149

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Abstract. A stationary low pressure system and elevated levels of precipitable water provided a nearly continuous source of precipitation over Louisiana, United States (US), starting around 10 August 2016. Precipitation was heaviest in the region broadly encompassing the city of Baton Rouge, with a 3-day maximum found at a station in Livingston, LA (east of Baton Rouge), from 12 to 14 August 2016 (648.3 mm, 25.5 inches). The intense precipitation was followed by inland flash flooding and river flooding and in subsequent days produced additional backwater flooding. On 16 August, Louisiana officials reported that 30 000 people had been rescued, nearly 10 600 people had slept in shelters on the night of 14 August and at least 60 600 homes had been impacted to varying degrees. As of 17 August, the floods were reported to have killed at least 13 people. As the disaster was unfolding, the Red Cross called the flooding the worst natural disaster in the US since Super Storm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey on 24 October 2012. Before the floodwaters had receded, the media began questioning whether this extreme event was caused by anthropogenic climate change. To provide the necessary analysis to understand the potential role of anthropogenic climate change, a rapid attribution analysis was launched in real time using the best readily available observational data and high-resolution global climate model simulations. The objective of this study is to show the possibility of performing rapid attribution studies when both observational and model data and analysis methods are readily available upon the start. It is the authors' aspiration that the results be used to guide further studies of the devastating precipitation and flooding event. Here, we present a first estimate of how anthropogenic climate change has affected the likelihood of a comparable extreme precipitation event in the central US Gulf Coast. While the flooding event of interest triggering this study occurred in south Louisiana, for the purposes of our analysis, we have defined an extreme precipitation event by taking the spatial maximum of annual 3-day inland maximum precipitation over the region of 29–31° N, 85–95° W, which we refer to as the central US Gulf Coast. Using observational data, we find that the observed local return time of the 12–14 August precipitation event in 2016 is about 550 years (95 % confidence interval (CI): 450–1450). The probability for an event like this to happen anywhere in the region is presently 1 in 30 years (CI 11–110). We estimate that these probabilities and the intensity of extreme precipitation events of this return time have increased since 1900. A central US Gulf Coast extreme precipitation event has effectively become more likely in 2016 than it was in 1900. The global climate models tell a similar story; in the most accurate analyses, the regional probability of 3-day extreme precipitation increases by more than a factor of 1.4 due to anthropogenic climate change. The magnitude of the shift in probabilities is greater in the 25 km (higher-resolution) climate model than in the 50 km model. The evidence for a relation to El Niño half a year earlier is equivocal, with some analyses showing a positive connection and others none.

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High-Resolution Climate Simulations Using GFDL HiRAM with a Stretched Global Grid

Cited by 138 publications

References 57 publications

Colliding Modons: A Nonlinear Test for the Evaluation of Global Dynamical Cores

Colliding Modons: A Nonlinear Test for the Evaluation of Global Dynamical Cores

TempestExtremes: a framework for scale-insensitive pointwise feature tracking on unstructured grids

Rapid attribution of the August 2016 flood-inducing extreme precipitation in south Louisiana to climate change

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