Internal and external variability in regional simulations of the Iberian Peninsula climate over the last millennium

In this study we analyse the role of internal variability in regional climate simulations through a comparison of two regional paleoclimate simulations for the last millennium. They share the same external forcings and model configuration, differing only in the initial condition used to run the driv...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Gómez Navarro, J. J., Montávez, J. P., Jiménez Guerrero, P., Jérez, S., Lorente Plazas, R., González Rouco, Jesús Fidel, Zorita, E.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2012
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/44931
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44931
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:52
Model
Temperature
Europe
Precipitation
Projections
Astrofísica
Astronomía (Física)
Descripción
Sumario:In this study we analyse the role of internal variability in regional climate simulations through a comparison of two regional paleoclimate simulations for the last millennium. They share the same external forcings and model configuration, differing only in the initial condition used to run the driving global model simulation. A comparison of these simulations allows us to study the role of internal variability in climate models at regional scales, and how it affects the long-term evolution of climate variables such as temperature and precipitation. The results indicate that, although temperature is homogeneously sensitive to the effect of external forcings, the evolution of precipitation is more strongly governed by random unpredictable internal dynamics. There are, however, some areas where the role of internal variability is lower than expected, allowing precipitation to respond to the external forcings. In this respect, we explore the underlying physical mechanisms responsible for it. This study identifies areas, depending on the season, in which a direct comparison between model simulations of precipitation and climate reconstructions would be meaningful, but also other areas where good agreement between them should not be expected even if both are perfect.