TITLE:
A Regional Climate Study of Heat Waves over the Iberian Peninsula
AUTHORS:
Hari Prasad Dasari, Isaac Pozo, Francisco Ferri-Yáñez, Miguel B. Araújo
KEYWORDS:
Downscaling, Heat Waves, Iberian Peninsula, Regional Climate Modelling
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.4 No.5,
November
20,
2014
ABSTRACT: We present a regional climate simulation
for the Iberian Peninsula for a 60-year period (1950-2009) using the WRF-ARW
model with a focus on the simulation of summer maximum temperatures and
associated extreme heat waves. The WRF model was designed at a 5 km horizontal
resolution on a 5-month (May-September) seasonal scale, for every year, during
the study period with initial/boundary conditions derived from NCEP 2.5 degree
reanalysis. The comparison of simulated mean summer seasonal maximums and mean
maximums of June, July, and August months with the corresponding E-OBS data
sets indicates that the model is able to characterize the spatial variation of
magnitudes of temperature change over the Iberian Peninsula. The mean extreme
heat wave conditions during the climate period 1950-2009 are well simulated and
match the observations well. The regional scale simulations clearly show the
propagation of intense heat waves from the south west to north east of Iberia.
The WRF-ARW model also simulated well the general trend of increase in heat
waves over most parts of the Iberian Peninsula during the study period
1950-2009. The characteristics of the most severe heat waves years 2003 and
2006 are also well simulated by the model.