Conveners

Deliang Chen, Shiori Sugimoto, Tandong Yao, Peter Van Ovelen

Rapporteur: Mahesh Ramadoss

Click here to read the SUMMARY REPORT SESSION D1

Session summary

In this session, we will present some recent efforts related to high-resolution (down to a few km) climate simulations/reanalysis over the Third Pole (TP: Tibetan Plateau and all the mountain ranges that surround it) region and their applications, discuss the roles played by mesoscale systems and identify key scientific challenges encountered. Results of this session could inform future research efforts. Participants are invited to submit abstracts to this session with a focus on high-resolution modeling/reanalysis over the TP. Talks describing similar efforts for other regions with complex terrain are also welcome.

Contact: Deliang Chen (deliang@gvc.gu.se)

 

Session description

The Third Pole (TP) is the Tibetan Plateau and all the mountain ranges that surround it. Changes in the  water cycle over the TP is to a large extent driven by changing climate conditions and have a great impact on the ecosystem and society over the TP and the surrounding regions. Mainly due to the complex topography, meso-scale systems such as convection and local winds are very active and not properly resolved by current regional climate model. Because of the harsh environment, ground-based observations are scarce over the TP, making the study of regional climate and its impact on other systems such as water cycle difficult. Thus, high-resolution regional downscaling and/or reanalysis are badly needed to understand relevant thermodynamic processes and to provide necessary forcing for impact studies and other applications. Over the recent years, some high-resolution (down to a few km) climate simulations/reanalysis over the region have been conducted and some are under planning by several research groups within and outside the Third Pole Environment (TPE) community. The aim of this session is to present these efforts and their applications, discuss the roles played by mesoscale systems, and identify key scientific challenges encountered. Results of this session could inform future research efforts.

Oral presentations
Co-chairs: Deliang Chen & Shiori Sugimoto

14.00 Introduction to TPE. Tandong Yao (invited speaker)
14.05 Kilometer-scale climate modeling in mountain regions: Advances, Challenges, and Opportunities. Andreas Prein (invited speaker)
14:30 Challenges for high resolution simulation over the Himalayas.  Shiori Sugimoto
14:45 Convection-permitting modeling over the Tibetan Plateau.  Yanhong Gao
15:00 High resolution simulation over the third pole region.  Xu Zhou
15:15 Simulated diurnal cycle of summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau at gray-zone grid spacing  Tinghai Ou
15.25 Effects of planetary boundary layer parameterizations on high resolution regional climate simulation over Tibe Plateau. Jianping Tang
15.45 Observation-model integration for simulating water cycle in the Tibetan Plateau. Yang Kun
15.55  Introduction to a new CORDEX Flagship project for Tibetan Plateau. Deliang Chen

Participants are invited to submit abstracts to this session and we expect to have around 10 talks including 1-2 invited talks. Although the focus will be on high-resolution modeling/reanalysis over the TP, talks describing similar efforts for other regions with complex terrain, as well as analysis of observations and/or high- resolution modeling/reanalysis products on relevant processes are also welcome.

The TPE community has identified the research area as a high priority. This session will help forming a science plan and possibly a coordinated research project to push the research agenda forward.