To what extent horizontal resolution improves the simulation of precipitation in CMIP6 HighResMIP models over Southwest China?

Abstract

Southwest China (SWC) is located in the eastern part of Tibetan Plateau (TP) with large elevation differences and complex topography, which has always been a challenge to the simulation of precipitation in climate modeling community. In this study, the differences in the simulation of precipitation over the SWC are evaluated using the lower and higher resolution models (LR and HR) from the High–Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) protocol in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). Our results indicate that the spatial patterns of annual precipitation over the SWC for the period 1985–2014 are well reproduced in most of the HR and LR models, with an increasing tendency from the northwest to southeast. Compared with LR models, the wet biases over the eastern TP and the dry biases over the Sichuan Basin are significantly reduced in HR models. The bias for annual precipitation of the multi–model ensemble mean (MME) has been reduced from 0.97 mm/day (LR) to 0.72 mm/day (HR). In addition, the simulation of extreme precipitation is significantly improved in the finer horizontal resolution models, showing effectively reduced simulation biases in the Sichuan Basin compared with the LR models. The frequency and intensity of extremes are represented by heavy precipitation days (R10 mm) and maximum consecutive 5 days precipitation (Rx5day), which the relative changes have been decreased from 66% (LR) to 47% (HR) in R10 mm and decreased from 23% (LR) to 19% (HR) in Rx5day. We further examine the possible reasons for the difference between LR and HR models in precipitation simulation, showing that the HR models could generate “additional” cyclonic circulation and promote more upward motion with the water vapor convergence, thus correcting the dry biases of precipitation simulation over the Sichuan Basin. This indicates that atmospheric circulation and moisture conditions could be simulated more realistically in climate model with a finer resolution, further improving precipitation simulation performance.