The influence of prescribed soil type distribution on the representation of present climate in a regional climate model

Abstract

Two model simulations with the regional climate model CLM performed with different prescribed soil type distributions are analysed to investigate consistent dry and warm biases during summer in south-eastern Europe evident in a variety of regional climate models. The conventional soil type distribution defines sandy loam in the southeast of Europe; whereas the modified one defines a large area of silt loam instead. As a consequence of the different soil characteristics, the results indicate increased soil moisture in the modified simulation compared to the control simulation. In addition to local changes in near surface parameters, large-scale changes involving temperature, precipitation and surface pressure are observed. Some corrections of the temperature bias in south-eastern Europe are obtained with the prescription of the different soil type, though significant model biases remain in this region.