Enhanced Blocking Frequencies in Very-high Resolution Idealized Climate Model Simulations

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL111016. This is version 4 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Paolo De Luca, Bernat Jiménez-Esteve, Lisa Degenhardt, Sebastian Schemm, Stephan Pfahl

Abstract

Atmospheric blocking is a key dynamical phenomenon in the mid- and high latitudes, able to drive day-to-day weather changes and meteorological extremes such as heatwaves, droughts and cold waves. Current global circulation models struggle to fully capture observed blocking frequencies, likely because of their coarse horizontal resolution. Here we use convection permitting, nested idealized model simulations for quantifying changes in blocking frequency and Rossby wave breaking compared to a coarser resolution reference. We find an increase in blocking frequency poleward and downstream of the area with increased resolution, while the exact regions depend on the blocking index. These changes are probably due to a more accurate representation of small-scale processes such as diabatic heating, which affect Rossby wave breaking and blocking formation downstream. Our results thus suggest an improved representation of blocking in the next generation of high-resolution global climate models.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X5N12D

Subjects

Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Keywords

Dates

Published: 2024-09-05 15:20

Last Updated: 2024-11-19 16:17

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License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

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Conflict of interest statement:
None