Louis-Philippe Caron and Colin Jones Simulating the variability and physics of Atlantic Tropical Cyclones with the Canadian RCM Louis-Philippe Caron and Colin Jones

Objectives: Evaluate the benefit of increased resolution in TC simulation on climate timescales. Investigate the importance of simulating African waves, at high-resolution, in the context of Atlantic TC variability. These goals will be achieved by using different possible configurations of GEM-Climate: A global 2°resolution, typical of present-day GCMs. Variable resolution, with high-resolution (0.3°) over the entire tropical Atlantic TC track, while the rest of the global domain is kept at the equivalent resolution of the Global version of GEM (2°). Two different RCM configurations of GEM: the first utilizes a domain covering the same area and resolution as the high-resolution portion of the Global variable resolution simulation whilst the second, smaller RCM domain, covers only the tropical Atlantic.

Example of Variable Resolution Grid

Relative monthly distribution of observed and simulated TCs for the period 1979-2006. Hurricane simulated in the Gulf of Mexico. TCs tracks produced by GEM during a given year.