Do CMIP models capture long-term observed annual precipitation trends?

This study provides a long-term (1891-2014) global assessment of precipitation trends using data from two station-based gridded datasets and climate model outputs evolved through the fifth and sixth phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively). Our analysis emp...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Vicente Serrano, S.M., García Herrera, Ricardo Francisco, Peña Angulo, D., Tomas‑Burguera, M., Domínguez Castro, F., Noguera, I., Calvo Fernández, Natalia, Murphy, C., Nieto, R., Gimeno, L., Gutiérrez, J.M., Azorín Molina, César, El Kenawy, A.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/4906
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/4906
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:52
Global climate models
Low-top versions
Simulations
20th-century
Temperature
Variability
Stratosphere
Enso
Atmosphere
Extremes
Astrofísica
Descripción
Sumario:This study provides a long-term (1891-2014) global assessment of precipitation trends using data from two station-based gridded datasets and climate model outputs evolved through the fifth and sixth phases of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5 and CMIP6, respectively). Our analysis employs a variety of modeling groups that incorporate low- and high-top level members, with the aim of assessing the possible effects of including a well-resolved stratosphere on the model's ability to reproduce long-term observed annual precipitation trends. Results demonstrate that only a few regions show statistically significant differences in precipitation trends between observations and models. Nevertheless, this pattern is mostly caused by the strong interannual variability of precipitation in most of the world regions. Thus, statistically significant model-observation differences on trends (1891-2014) are found at the zonal mean scale. The different model groups clearly fail to reproduce the spatial patterns of annual precipitation trends and the regions where stronger increases or decreases are recorded. This study also stresses that there are no significant differences between low- and high-top models in capturing observed precipitation trends, indicating that having a well-resolved stratosphere has a low impact on the accuracy of precipitation projections.