05 Africa

CORDEX Africa

Scientists from all over the world are working on the African modeling domain. The different groups are employing different regional climate models as to establish a common ensemble of climate projections as large as possible.

Model domain

For Africa, the simulations are performed on a rotated grid with the pole at 180°W longitude and 90°N latitude.The domain covers approximately the region from about 29°W to 65°E longitude and 50°S to 47°N latitude.

For CORDEX-Africa the simulation were carried out on the rather coarse resolution of 0.44° (approx. 50 km) to enable a large ensemble of climate projections. The ERA-Interim driven evaluation run using COSMO-CLM has also been performed with a grid-spacing of 0.22° (approx. 25 km). One historical run forced by MPI-ESM-LR has also been carried using the higher resolution of 25 km.

In order to increase the reproducibility of the simulation results and to avoid misinterpretation of the results the COSMO-CLM model grid for the CORDEX-Africa domain is given in the following table together with the definition of the recommended external parameter data file .

Contributing partners from the CLM-Community

• Hans-Jürgen Panitz (KIT, Karlsruhe)
• Hendrik Feldmann (KIT, Karlsruhe)
• Alessandro Dosio (JRC, Ispra)
• Klaus Keuler (BTU, Cottbus)
• Stephanie Legutke (DKRZ, Hamburg)
• Daniel Lüthi (ETH, Zurich)
• Martina Schubert-Frisius (HZG, Geesthacht)
• Matthias Büchner (PIK, Potsdam)

Simulations performed or planned by the CLM-Community

Runs at 0.44° (approx. 50 km) 

An evaluation run was performed by KIT Karlsruhe using ERA-Interim data (Dee et al., 2011) as boundary forcing for the time period 1989 - 2008. To establish an ensemble of climate projections different forcing GCMs and scenarios listed in the table below were employed.

Model Setup

• Version: int2lm_090213_1.9_clm3 / cosmo_090213_4.8_clm17
• Configuration outputs of the ERA-Interim driven simulation:
  • COSMO-CLM YUSPECIF
    
  • INT2LM OUTPUT

Runs at 0.22° (approx. 25 km)

Again, an evaluation run was performed by KIT Karlsruhe using ERA-Interim data as boundary forcing for the time period 1989 - 2008.

One historical run (1950 - 2005) forced by MPI-ESM-LR realization r1i1p1 has also been carried out at the higher resolution of 25 km with cosmo4.8_clm17.

Simulations performed or planned for CORDEX-CORE

For CORDEX-CORE simulations will be performed with cosmo5.0_clm15 with a resolution of 25 km (AFR-22)

Model setup

• Version: iint2lm_131101_2.00_clm4 / cosmo_131108_5.00_clm15
• Configuration outputs of the ERA-Interim driven simulation:
  • COSMO-CLM YUSPECIF: AFR-22 setup ERAINT(1): OUTPUT_CORDEX_CORE_AFR22_Tegen_ERAInterim_int2lm_131101_2.00_clm4

References

Dosio A., H.-J. Panitz, M. Schubert-Frisius, D. Luethi (2015): Dynamical downscaling of CMIP5 global circulation models over CORDEX-Africa with COSMO-CLM: evaluation over the present climate and analysis of the added value. Climate dynamics, 44 (9-10), 2637–2661. doi:10.1007/s00382-014-2262-x

Endris H.S., Ph. Omodi, S. Jain, L. Chang'a, C. Lennard, B. Hewiston, J. Awange, P. Ketiem, A. Dosio, G. Nikulin, H.-J. Panitz, M. Büchner, F. Strodal, L., Tazalika (2013): Assessment of the performance of CORDEX Regional Climate Models in Simulating Eastern Africa Rainfall. J. Climate, 26, 8475.doi: http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00708.1

Endris, H. S., C. Lennard, B. Hewitson, A. Dosio, G. Nikulin, H.-J. Panitz (2016): Teleconnection responses in multi-GCM driven CORDEX RCMs over Eastern Africa. Climate dynamics, 46 (9-10), 2821–2846. doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2734-7.

Favre, A. N. Philippon, B. Pohl, E.-A. Kalognomou, C. Lennard, B. Hewitson, G. Nikulin, A. Dosio, H.-J. Panitz, R. Cerezo-Mota (2016): Spatial distribution of precipitation annual cycles over South Africa in 10 CORDEX regional climate model present-day simulations. Climate Dynamics, 46 (5-6), 1799–1818. doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2677-z.

Kalognomou E.-A., C. Lennard, M. Shongwe, I. Pinto, M. Kent, B. Hewiston, A. Dosio, G. Nikulin, H.-J. Panitz, M. Büchner (2013): A diagnostic evaluation of precipitation in CORDEX models over southern Africa, J. Climate, 26, 9477–9506. doi:  http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00703.1

Klutse N.A.B., M.B. Sylla, I. Diallo, A. Sarr, A. Dosio, A. Diedhiou, A. Kamga, B. Lamptey, A. Abdou, E.O. Gbobaniyi, K. Owusu, C. Lennard, B. Hewitson, G. Nikulin, H.-J. Panitz, M. Büchner, (2013): Daily Characteristics of West African Summer Monsoon Precipitation in CORDEX Simulations. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 123, 1-2, pp. 369-386.

Kothe S., H.-J. Panitz, B. Ahrens, (2014): Analysis of the radiation budget in regional climate simulations with COSMO-CLM for Africa. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 23 (2), 123–141, doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2014/0527.

Krähenmann S., S. Kothe, H.-J. Panitz, B. Ahrens (2013): Evaluation of Daily Maximum and Minimum 2-m Temperatures as Simulated with the Regional Climate Model COSMO-CLM over Africa. Meteorol. Z., 22, 3, 297-316, DOI 10.1127/0941-2948/2013/0468.

Maurer, V., I. Bischoff-Gauß, N. Kalthoff, L. Gantner, R. Roca, H.-J. Panitz (2017): Initiation of deep convection in the Sahel in a convection-permitting climate simulation for northern Africa. Quarterly journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 143 (703), 806–816. doi:10.1002/qj.2966.

Nikulin G., C. Jones, P. Samuelsson, F. Giorgi, M.B. Sylla, G. Asrar, M. Büchner, R. Cerezo-Mota, O.B. Christensen, M. Déqué, J. Fernandez, A. Hänsler, E. van Meijgaard, L. Sushama (2012): Precipitation Climatology in An Ensemble of CORDEX-Africa Regional Climate Simulations. J. Climate, 25, 10, 6057-6078, DOI 10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00375.1

Nikulin, G., C. Lennard, A. Dosio, E. Kjellström, Y. Chen, A. Hänsler, M. Kupiainen, R. Laprise, L. Mariotti, C. Fox Maule, E. van Meijgaard, H.-J. Panitz, J.F. Scinocca, S. Somot (2018): The effects of 1.5 and 2 degrees of global warming on Africa in the CORDEX ensemble. Environmental research letters, 13 (6), 065003/1–10. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aab1b1.

Panitz H.-J., P. Berg, G. Schädler, G. Fosser (2012): Modelling Regional Climate Change for Germany and Africa. In: High Performance Computing in Science and Engineering '11 [W. E. Nagel, D. Kröner, M. Resch (Eds.)]. DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-23869-7, Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York 2012, pp 503--512.

Panitz H.-J., A. Dosio, M. Büchner, D. Lüthi, K. Keuler (2013): COSMO-CLM (CCLM) Climate Simulations over CORDEX Africa Domain: Analysis of the ERA-Interim Driven Simulations at 0.44° and 0.22° Resolution. Climate Dyn., DOI 10.1007/s00382-013-1834-5.

Panitz, H.-J., A, Dosio, M. Büchner, D. Lüthi, K. Keuler (2014): COSMO-CLM (CCLM) climate simulations over CORDEX-Africa domain: Analysis of the ERA-Interim driven simulations at 0.44⁰ and 0.22⁰ resolution Climate dynamics, 42 (11), 3015–3038. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1834-5.

Pinto, I., C. Lennard, M. Tadross, B. Hewitson, A. Dosio, G. Nikulin, H.-J. Panitz, M.E. Shongwe (2016): Evaluation and projections of extreme precipitation over southern Africa from two CORDEX models. Climatic change, 135 (3-4), 655–668. doi:10.1007/s10584-015-1573-1.

Thiery, W., E.L. Davin, H.-J. Panitz, M. Demuzere, S. Lhermitte, N. van Lipzig (2015): The impact of the African great lakes on the regional climate. Journal of climate, 28 (10), 4061–4085. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00565.1.

Conferences

Panitz H.-J., M. Schubert-Frisius, K. Meier-Fleischer, P. Lenzen, S. Legutke, K. Keuler, D. Lüthi, A. Lettenbauer, A. Dosio (2013): CORDEX Climate Simulations for Africa using COSMO-CLM (CCLM). Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 15, EGU2013-1387, EGU General Assembly 2013, Vienna

Panitz H.-J., M. Schubert-Frisius, K. Meier-Fleischer, P. Lenzen, S. Legutke, K. Keuler, D. Lüthi, A. Lettenbauer, A. Dosio (2013): CORDEX Climate Simulations for Africa using COSMO-CLM (CCLM). International Conference on Regional Climate – CORDEX 2013, Brussels, Belgium, 4 – 7 November 2013

Schubert-Frisius M., K. Meier-Fleischer, P. Lenzen, K. Keuler, H.-J. Panitz, M. Buechner, S. Legutke (2012): CORDEX experiments with the RCLM CCLM using the DKRZ modelling environment IMDI. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 14, EGU2012-5601,EGU General Assembly 2012, Vienna.