Cited by 184Climate variability and modelsMeteorological Phenomena and SimulationsClimate Change and Environmental Impact

Projected changes of extreme weather events in the eastern United States based on a high resolution climate modeling system

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Gao, Y, Fu, J S, Drake, J B, Liu, Y, Lamarque, J-F·2012·Environmental Research Letters

Abstract

This study is the first evaluation of dynamical downscaling using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model on a 4 km × 4 km high resolution scale in the eastern US driven by the new Community Earth System Model version 1.0 (CESM v1.0). First we examined the global and regional climate model results, and corrected an inconsistency in skin temperature during the downscaling process by modifying the land/sea mask. In comparison with observations, WRF shows statistically significant improvement over CESM in reproducing extreme weather events, with improvement for heat wave frequency estimation as high as 98%. The fossil fuel intensive scenario Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5 was used to study a possible future mid-century climate extreme in 2057–9. Both the heat waves and the extreme precipitation in 2057–9 are more severe than the present climate in the Eastern US. The Northeastern US shows large increases in both heat wave intensity (3.05 °C higher) and annual extreme precipitation (107.3 mm more per year).

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Authors
Gao, Y., Fu, J. S., Drake, J. B., Liu, Y., & Lamarque, J.-F.
Affiliations
  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
  • Emory University (US)
  • NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
Corresponding author
Fu, J S
Venue
Environmental Research Letters
Published
2012-11-06
Volume
7
Issue
4
Pages
044025
ISSN
1748-9326 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2035338344
Cited by
184
References
3
Citations by year
2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 1
FWCI
11.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-sa
Locations
  • Environmental Research Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (DEAC05- 00OR22725, 00OR22725)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (AC05-00OR22725, DE--AC05--00OR22725, DE-AC05?, 00OR22725)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (5 U01 EH000405, DE-AC05-, DE-AC05-00OR22725)
  • Office of Science (DEAC05- 00OR22725, AC05-00OR22725)
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory (AC05-00OR22725, DE-AC05-00OR22725)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate Change and Environmental Impact
Keywords
extreme weather events, dynamical downscaling, WRF model, high-resolution climate modeling, heat waves, heavy rainfall, climate change projections, RCP8.5, land-sea mask, eastern United States, northeastern United States

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