Highlighted Model Visualizations
A Selection of Recent Visualizations from ESSL Models
The Nested Regional Climate Model is a 2-way nested model that provides an integrating research tool essential to address upscaling and downscaling issues. When applied at the appropriate spatial scales and locales such models can resolve climate processes across wide spectrum of scales and reduce the errors associated with physics parameterizations. They also can properly represent spatial variations of climate forcing, such as topography, lakes, and land-sea contrast; and human influence, such as air pollution and land/water use. To address the full requirements, the nested models must include both global and regional models with two-way interactions. WRF and CCSM are ideal candidates for such coupling. The Nested Regional Climate Model
View Selected Animations from the new NRCM
Background: Climate varies across a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Yet, climate modeling has long been approached using global models that can resolve only the broader scales of atmospheric circulations and their interactions with convection, land, ocean surface, and sea ice. Clearly, large-scale climate determines the environment for mesoscale and microscale processes that govern the weather and local climate, but, likewise, processes that occur at the regional scale may have significant impacts on the large-scale circulation. Resolving such interactions will lead to much improved understanding of how climate both influences, and is influenced by, human activities. A 2-way Nested Regional Climate Model (NRCM) provides an integrating research tool that is essential to address upscaling and downscaling issues.