Dynamical downscaling: Assessment of model system dependent retained and added variability for two different regional climate models

Abstract

In this paper, we compare the retained and added variability obtained using the regional climate model CLM (Climate version of the Local Model of the German Weather Service) to an earlier study using the RAMS (Regional Atmospheric Modeling System) model. Both models yield similar results for their standard configurations with a commonly used nudging technique applied to the driving model fields. Significantly both models do not adequately retain the large-scale variability in total kinetic energy with results poorer on a larger grid domain. Additional experiments with interior nudging, however, permit the retention of large-scale values for both models. The spectral nudging technique permits more added variability at smaller scales than a four-dimensional internal grid nudging on large domains. We also confirmed that dynamic downscaling does not retain (or increase) simulation skill of the large-scale fields over and beyond that which exists in the larger-scale model or reanalysis. Our conclusions should be relevant to all applications of dynamic downscaling for regional climate simulations.