Introduction to the Regional Coupled Model WRF4-LICOM: Performance and Model Intercomparison over the Western North Pacific

Regional coupled modeling is one of the frontiers of regional climate modeling,but intercomparison has not been well coordinated.In this study,a community regional climate model,WRF4,with a resolution of 15 km,was coupled with a high-resolution(0.1°)North Pacific Ocean model(LICOM_np).The performance of the regional coupled model,WRF4_LICOM,was compared to that of another regional coupled model,RegCM4_LICOM,which was a coupling of version 4 of the Regional Climate Model(RegCM4)with LICOM_np.The analysis focused on the 2005 western North Pacific summer monsoon rainfall.The results showed that the regional coupled models with either RegCM4 or WRF4 as their atmospheric model component simulated the broad features over the WNP reasonably well.Quantitative intercomparison of the regional coupled simulations exhibited different biases for different climate variables.RegCM4_LICOM exhibited smaller biases in its simulation of the averaged June–July–August SST and rainfall,while WRF4_LICOM better captured the tropical cyclone(TC)intensity,the percentage contributions of rainfall induced by TCs to the total rainfall,and the diurnal cycle of rainfall and stratiform percentages,especially over land areas.The different behaviors in rainfall simulated by the two models were partly ascribed to the behaviors in the simulated western North Pacific subtropical high(WNPSH).The stronger(weaker)WNPSH in WRF4_LICOM(RegCM4_LICOM)was driven by overestimated(underestimated)diabatic heating,which peaked at approximately 450 hPa over the region around the Philippines in association with different condensation–radiation processes.Coupling of WRF4 with LIOCM is a crucial step towards the development of the next generation of regional earth system models at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Seasonal and Intraseasonal Variations of East Asian Summer Monsoon Precipitation Simulated by a Regional Air-Sea Coupled Model

The performance of a regional air-sea coupled model, comprising the Regional Integrated Environment Model System （RIEMS） and the Princeton Ocean Model （POM）, in simulating the seasonal and intraseasonal variations of East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） rainfall was investigated. Through comparisons of the model results among the coupled model, the uncoupled RIEMS, and observations, the impact of air-sea coupling on simulating the EASM was also evaluated. Results showed that the regional air sea coupled climate model performed better in simulating the spatial pattern of the precipitation climatology and produced more realistic variations of the EASM rainfall in terms of its amplitude and principal EOF modes. The coupled model also showed greater skill than the uncoupled RIEMS in reproducing the principal features of climatological intraseasonal oscillation （CISO） of EASM rainfall, including its dominant period, intensity, and northward propagation. Further analysis indicated that the improvements in the simulation of the EASM rainfall climatology and its seasonal variation in the coupled model were due to better simulation of the western North Pacific Subtropical High, while the improvements of CISO simulation were owing to the realistic phase relationship between the intraseasonal convection and the underlying SST resulting from the air-sea coupling.

Does regional air–sea coupling improve the simulation of the summer monsoon over the western North Pacific in the WRF4 model?

A new regional coupled ocean–atmosphere model,WRF4-LICOM,was used to investigate the impacts of regional air–sea coupling on the simulation of the western North Pacific summer monsoon(WNPSM),with a focus on the normal WNPSM year 2005.Compared to WRF4,WRF4-LICOM improved the simulation of the summer mean monsoon rainfall,circulations,sea surface net heat fluxes,and propagations of the daily rainband over the WNP.The major differences between the models were found over the northern South China Sea and east of the Philippines.The warmer SST reduced the gross moist stability of the atmosphere and increased the upward latent heat flux,and then drove local ascending anomalies,which led to the increase of rainfall in WRF4-LICOM.The resultant enhanced atmospheric heating drove a low-level anomalous cyclone to its northwest,which reduced the simulated circulation biases in the stand-alone WRF4 model.The local observed daily SST over the WNP was a response to the overlying summer monsoon.In the WRF4 model,the modeled atmosphere exhibited passive response to the underlying daily SST anomalies.With the inclusion of regional air–sea coupling,the simulated daily SST–rainfall relationship was significantly improved.WRF4-LICOM is recommended for future dynamical downscaling of simulations and projections over this region.

Development and evaluation of a regional ocean-atmosphere coupled model with focus on the western North Pacific summer monsoon simulation:Impacts of different atmospheric components

A regional ocean atmosphere coupled model (ROAM) is developed through coupler OASIS3,and is composed of regional climate model RegCM3 and CREM (Climate version of Regional Eta Model) as its atmospheric component and of a revised Princeton ocean model (POM2000) as its oceanic component.The performance of the ROAM over the western North Pacific summer monsoon region is assessed by the case simulation of warm season in 1998.Impacts of different atmospheric model components on the performance of ROAM are investigated.Compared with stand-alone simulation,CREM (RegCM3) produces more (or less) rainfall over ocean area with inclusion of the air-sea coupling.Different biases of rainfall are caused by the different biases of SST derived from the coupled simulation.Warm (or cold) SST bias simulated by CREM_CPL (RegCM3_CPL) increases (or decreases) the evaporation at sea surface,then increases (or decreases) the rainfall over ocean.The analyses suggest that the biases of vertical profile of temperature and specific humidity in stand-alone simulations may be responsible for the SST biases in regional coupled simulations.Compared with reanalysis data,the warmer (or colder) and moister (or dryer) lower troposphere simulated in CREM (RegCM3) produces less (or more) sea surface latent heat flux.Meanwhile,the more unstable (or stable) lower troposphere produces less (or more) cloudiness at low-level,which increases (or decreases) the solar radiation reaching on the sea surface.CREM (RegCM3) forced by observed SST overestimates (or underestimates) the sea surface net heat flux,implying a potential warm (or cold) heat source.After coupling with POM2000,the warm (or cold) heat source would further increase (or decrease) the SST.The biases of vertical profile of temperature and specific humidity may be ascribed to the different representation of cumulus convection in atmospheric models.

Recent advances in regional air-sea coupled models

In this paper,we first briefly review the history of air-sea coupled models,and then introduce the current status and recent advances of regional air-sea coupled models.In particular,we discuss the core technical and scientific issues involved in the development of regional coupled models,including the coupling technique,lateral boundary conditions,the coupling with sea waves(ices),and data assimilation.Furthermore,we introduce the application of regional coupled models in numerical simulation and dynamical downscaling.Finally,we discuss the existing problems and future directions in the development of regional air-sea coupled models.

DEVELOPMENT OF A COUPLED REGIONAL AIR-SEA MODEL AND ITS NUMERICAL SIMULATION FOR SUMMER MONSOON IN 1998

A coupled regional air-sea model is developed by using the regional climate model (P-σ RCM) and the regional ocean model (POM),which is used to simulate East Asian monsoon and oceanic elements in East Asian coastal waters.The simulated surface layer oceanic elements are basically consistent with the reality and can reflect the interaction between the monsoon and the surface layer currents.The great difference with the reality is “cold drift” of the simulated surface temperature.The coupled model has certain ability to simulate the atmosphere geopotential height fields,precipitation and low-level southwest wind from May to August in 1998.It can display the process of summer monsoon onset during the third dekad of May and the evolution features after the onset.The differences between the simulation results of the coupled model and that of the single P-a RCM are shown mainly in the low-level atmosphere and the model internal regions.

Simulation of China Summer Precipitation Using a Regional Air-Sea Coupled Model

A regional air-sea coupled model based on the regional climate model（RegCM3） and the regional oceanic model POM（Princeton Ocean Model） is developed and a series of experiments are performed to verify the ability of the coupled model in simulating the summer precipitation over China from 1963 to 2002.The results show that the space correlation coefficients between the GISST（Global Ice and Sea Surface Temperature） data and the simulated SST by RegCM3-POM exceed 0.9.Compared with the uncoupled experiments,the coupled model RegCM3-POM has a better performance in simulating the mean summer（June to August） precipitation over China,and the distribution of the rainband in the coupled model is more accurate.The improvement of the rainfall simulation is significant over the Yangtze River Valley and in South China.The rainbelt intraseasonal evolution over eastern China in summer indicates that the simulation ability of RegCM3-POM is improved in comparison with the uncoupled model.The interannual summer rainfall variation over eastern China simulated by RegCM3-POM is in accordance with observation,while the spatial pattern of the interannual summer rainfall variation in the uncoupled model is inaccurate.The simulated correlation coefficient between the summer rainfall in the uncoupled model RegCM3 and observation is 0.30 over the Yangtze River Valley and 0.29 in South China.The coefficient between the rainfall in the coupled RegCM3-POM and observation is 0.48 over the Yangtze River Valley and 0.61 in South China.The RegCM3-POM has successfully simulated the correlation coefficients between summer rainfall in the Yangtze River Valley and SST anomalies of the Bay of Bengal,South China Sea,and the Kuroshio area,whereas the uncoupled model RegCM3 fails to reproduce this relationship.The study further shows that the monsoon circulation and the path of the moisture transport flux simulated by RegCM3-POM are in good agreement with the NCEP/NCAR data.

Coupling plasma plume of a low-power magnetically shielded Hall thruster with a hollow cathode

The coupling region of a Hall thruster with a hollow cathode is the region between the cathode and the thruster plume.The characteristics of plasma in that region are complicated and strongly associated with the thruster working conditions and the cathode position.In this paper,a laboratory 100 W class magnetically shielded Hall thruster was coupled with a hollow cathode.Optical imaging and electrostatic probe were employed to monitor and scan the plasma plume.Plume characteristics in the coupling region in non-self-sustained mode and self-sustained mode were compared.Evolution of the coupling plume with the cathode position was studied.Experiments show that,when turning the thruster into self-sustained mode or moving the cathode further away axially,the discharge current can be reduced by 6.4–10.6%restraining the electron current and improving ionization.In particular,when the cathode is moved further,the electron conduction near the channel walls is suppressed.The electron current is reduced by 27.4%and the ion beam current is increased by 7%.Overall,this work shows that the working mode of the thruster and the position of the cathode greatly affect the coupling plasma plume.Both play an important role in improving the utilizations of propellant and current.