Summer monsoonal rainfall simulation on theT ibetan Plateau with a regional climate model using a one-way double-nesting system

Abstract

This study investigates the capability of the regional climate model REMO to simulate the summer monsoonal rainfall distribution and evolution on the Tibetan Plateau. The model is performed for summer 1998 driven by "perfect boundaries" in a one-way double-nesting system, with a 55 km grid point intermediate mother domain encompassing East Asia and a 18 km grid point spacing nested domain covering almost the whole Tibetan Plateau. By comparison with in situ observations, the model results demonstrate that the higher resolution run out-performs the lower one. At a horizontal resolution of 18 km, REMO could reproduce the major precipitation events at daily scale and simulate the spatial differences. The evolution and spatial distribution of the monsoonal rainfall in the model are reasonable and comparable to observations. © 2007, the Meteorological Society of Japan.