In recent years an increasing number of research groups are using different versions of RCM to simulate regional climate change in Asia. In order to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of present regional climate models so that better projection of regional climate change can be provided, an intercomparison study of the performance of various RCMs regarding their capacity of simulating the regional climate of Asia is strongly required. This situation is similar to that of applying Global Climate Models (GCMs) for Asia. For example, the on-going AMIP (Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) and CMIP (Coupled Ocean-Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) have proved helpful for improvement of GCMs and their application for Asia. However, most of these GCMs are not able to capture the regional characteristics of Asia because of her well-developed monsoon climate, complicated topography and ecosystem distribution, and particularly strong human impacts. Regarding the application of RCMs for Asia, although some case studies have been carried out to validate the RCMs by different research groups, a more systematic intercomparison study to evaluate the capacity of these models in simulating the regional climate of Asia and their distinctiveness in comparison with the GCMs will be of great benefit for further improvement of the RIEMS for East Asia and other RCMs focusing on APN region.
Project • APN2000-05