High-resolution sensitivity studies withe the regional climate model COSMO-CLM [Elektronische Ressource] / von Cathérine Meißner

HIGH-RESOLUTION SENSITIVITY STUDIES WITH THE REGIONAL CLIMATE MODEL COSMO-CLM Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines DOKTORS DER NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN von der Fakultät für Physik der Universität (TH) Karlsruhe genehmigte DISSERTATION von Dipl.-Met. Cathérine Meißner aus Achern Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 08. Februar 2008 Referent: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kottmeier Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Sarah Jones Abstract High-resolution regional ensemble climate simulations with the regional climate model COSMO-CLM are performed for Southwest Germany to study the sensitivity of meteoro-logical and hydrological variables to simulation set-up, including the domain size, driving data, horizontal resolution and physical parameterisations and parameter settings. The model setup found adequate for such simulations is a domain including the Alps, ERA-40 reanalysis data as driving data, and a horizontal resolution of 7 km. The sensitivity of simulation results to a changed model setup is highest for the change in driving data and is higher in winter than in summer. This adequate model setup is used to investigate the influence of the land surface scheme on COSMO-CLM simulations. The standard land surface scheme TERRA_LM is replaced by the land surface scheme VEG3D, which contains an explicit vegetation layer.