Parameterization-induced error characteristics of MM5 and WRF operated in climate mode over the alpine region: An ensemble-based analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the role of physical parameterization in regional climate model simulations. The authors also present a comprehensive assessment of errors arising from use of physical parameterization schemes, and their consequent impact on model performance in a region of complex topography. An error range related to the choice of physical parameterization is provided for 2-m air temperature T2m and precipitation. Two state-of-the-art nonhydrostatic mesoscale regional climate models, the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) and the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, are used to dynamically downscale the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) to a spatial resolution of 10 km 3 10 km in the European alpine region. Simulated T2m and precipitation are compared with gridded observational datasets. The model performance on regional and subregional scales is evaluated on daily, monthly, seasonal, and annual time scales. The results are based on a mixed physics ensemble of twenty-nine 1-yr-long hindcast simulations generated by choosing different model configurations. These results indicate that performance of both models is sensitive to the choice of physical parameterization and WRF is more sensitive than MM5. This sensitivity is higher during summer than during winter. The cumulus and microphysics scheme have the dominant effect on model performance during summer while boundary layer and radiation schemes affect the results during all seasons. © 2011 American Meteorological Society.