Studies of the Antarctic climate with a stretched-grid general circulation model

Abstract

A stretched-grid general circulation model (GCM), derived from the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD) GCM is used for a multiyear high-resolution simulation of the Antarctic climate. The resolution in the Antarctic region reaches 100 km. In order to correctly represent the polar climate, it is necessary to implement several modifications in the model physics, These modifications mostly concern the parameterizations of the atmospheric boundary layer. The simulated Antarctic climate is significantly better in the stretched-grid simulation than in the regular-grid control run. The katabatic wind regime is well captured, although the winds may be somewhat too weak. The annual snow accumulation is generally close to the observed values, although local discrepancies between the simulated annual accumulation and observations remain. The simulated continental mean annual accumulation is 16.2 cm y-1. Features like the surface temperature and the temperature inversion over large parts of the continent are correctly represented. The model correctly simulates the atmospheric dynamics of the rest of the globe. Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.