Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A high resolution coupled ocean-atmosphere simulation of the regional climate over Central America

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study analyzes a relatively high resolution (15 km grid spacing), regional coupled ocean–atmosphere simulation configured over Central America. The simulation is conducted with the Regional Spectral Model-Regional Ocean Model System (RSM-ROMS) forced with global atmospheric and oceanic reanalysis for a period of 25 years (1986–2010). The spatial resolution of the RSM-ROMS simulation is unprecedented for the region. The highlights of the RCM simulation include the verifiable seasonal cycle of mesoscale features like the Low-Level Jets (LLJs), the Mid-Summer Drought (MSD), and the seasonal Tropical Cyclone (TC) activity both in the Pacific and in the Atlantic Oceans. However, some of the biases of the RSM-ROMS simulation of the frequency and amplitude of the MSD, the track density of the TCs in the two ocean basins, and the seasonal bias of the LLJs are noted. The seasonal cycle of the robust surface ocean currents in the eastern Pacific and the Costa Rica Dome is also well captured in the RSM-ROMS simulation. The RSM-ROMS simulation also resolves the seasonal cycle of the cyclonic Panama-Colombia Gyre and the anti-cyclonic Gulf of Papagayo-Tehuantepec Gyre. In many instances we find the RSM-ROMS improves upon the global reanalysis forcing the simulation, indicating the potential value of dynamic downscaling. Furthermore, the co-evolving components of the atmosphere and ocean in the RCM is an added benefit to the atmosphere only and ocean only global reanalysis forcing the simulation. However, the RCM displays significant biases that manifest in precipitation, precipitable water, SST, and winds which in the cases of prognostic variables of RSM-ROMS are perpetrated by the biases in the lateral boundary forcing (e.g., precipitable water) and in other instances forced by biases within the RSM-ROMS (e.g., precipitation, SST).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The authors are willing to share the data from the model upon request.

References

  • Afonso OC (2011) Natural disasters and migration: storms in Central America and the Caribbean and immigration to the U.S. UC Davis Undergrad. Res J 14: 1–18. http://explorations.ucdavis.edu/docs/2011/andrade.pdf.

  • Alpert J, Kanamitsu M, Caplan P, Sela J, White G (1988) Mountain induced gravity wave drag parameterization in the NMC medium-range forecast model. In: Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction, 8th, Baltimore, MD. 726–733.

  • Amador JA, Magaña VO (1999) Dynamics of the low level jet over the Caribbean, in 23rd conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, Am Meteorol Soc, Dallas, Texas, pp. 868–869

  • Amador JA, Durán-Quesada AM, Rivera ER, Mora G, Sáenz F, Calderón B, Mora N (2016) The easternmost tropical Pacific. Part II: seasonal and intraseasonal modes of atmospheric variability. Revista de Biología Tropical 64(1): S23-S57.

  • Andrade CA, Barton ED (2000) Eddy development and motion in the Caribbean Sea. J Geophys Res 105:26191–26201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Behrangi A et al (2014) Satellite-based precipitation estimation and its application for streamflow prediction over mountainous western US basins. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 53:2823–2842

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabos W, Sein DV, Durán-Quesada A, Liguori G, Koldunov NV, Martínez-López B, Alvarez F, Sieck K, Limareva N, Pinto JG (2019) Dynamical downscaling of historical climate over CORDEX Central America domain with a regionally coupled atmosphere-ocean model. Clim Dyn 52:4305–4328

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carton JA, Giese BS (2008) A reanalysis of ocean climate using simple ocean data assimilation (SODA). Mon Wea Rev 136:2999–3017. https://doi.org/10.1175/2007MWR1978.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cavazos T, Luna-Nino R, Cerezo-Mota R, Fuentes-Franco R, Mendez M, Martinez LFP, Valenzuela E (2020) Climatic trends and regional climate models intercomparison over the CORDEX-CAM (Central America, Caribbean, and Mexico) domain. Int J Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.6276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen M, Shi W, Xie P, Silva VBS, Kousky VE, Wayne Higgins R, Janowiak JE (2008) Assessing objective techniques for gauge-based analyses of global daily precipitation. J Geophys Res 113:D04110. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chou MD, Lee KT (1996) Parameterizations for the absorption of solar radiation by water vapor and ozone. J Atmos Sci 53:1203–1208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chou MD, Lee KT, Tsay SC, Fu Q (1999) Parameterization for cloud longwave scattering for use in atmospheric models. J Clim 12(1):159–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Condom T, Rau P, Espinoza JC (2011) Correction of TRMM 3B43 monthly precipitation data over the mountainous areas of Peru during the period 1998–2007. Hydrol Process 25:1924–1933

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corrales-Suastegui A, Fuentos-Franco R, Pavia EG (2020) The mid-summer drought over Mexico and Central America in the 21st century. Int J Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1022/joc.6296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Danielson JJ, Gesch DB (2011) Global multi-resolution terrain elevation data. Report number: Open-File Report 2011–1073. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20111073

  • Davis RE, Hayden BP, Gay DA, Phillips WL, Jones GV (1996) The North Atlantic subtropical anticyclone. J Clim 10:728–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Croz L, O’Dea A (2007) Variability in upwelling along the Pacific shelf of Panama and implications for the distribution of nutrients and chlorophyll. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci 73:325–340

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durán-Quesada AM, Gimeno L, Amador J (2017) Role of moisture transport for Central American precipitation. Earth Syst Dynam 8:147–161

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ek MB, Mitchell KE, Lin Y, Rogers E, Grunmann P, Koren V, Gayno G, Tarpley JD (2003) Implementation of Noah land surface model advances in the national centers for environmental prediction operational mesoscale Eta model. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD003296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enfield DB, Alfaro EJ (1999) The dependence of Caribbean rainfall on the interaction of the tropical Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. J Clim 12:2093–2103. https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012%3c2093:TDOCRO%3e2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ezer T, Arango H, Shchepetkin AF (2002) Developments in terrain-following ocean models: intercomparisons of numerical aspects. Ocean Model 4:249–267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiedler PC (2002) The annual cycle and biological effects of the Costa Rica Dome. Deep-Sea Res I 49:321–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fratantoni DF (2001) North Atlantic surface circulation during the 1990’s observed with satellite-tracked drifters. J Geophys Res 106:22067–22093

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuentes-Franco R, Coppola E, Giorgi F, Pavia EG, Diro GT, Graef F (2015) Inter-annual variability of precipitation over southern Mexico and Central America and its relationship to sea surface temperature from a set of future projections from CMIP5 GCMs and RegCM4 CORDEX simulations. Clim Dyn 45:425–440. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2258-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gimeno L, Stohl A, Trigo RM, Dominguez F, Yoshimura K, Yu L et al (2012) Oceanic and terrestrial sources of continental precipitation. Rev Geophys 50(4):4003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giorgi F (2019) Thirty years of regional climate modeling: where are we and where are we going next? J Geophys Res. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glazer R, Misra V (2018) Ice versus liquid water saturation in simulations of the Indian summer monsoon. Clim Dyn. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4116-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haidvogel DB, Arango HG, Hedstrom K, Beckmann A, Malanotte-Rizzoli P, Shchepetkin AF (2000) Model evaluation experiments in the North Atlantic Basin: simulations in nonlinear terrain-following coordinates. Dyn Atmos Oceans 32(3):239–281

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ham S, Yoshimura K, Li H (2016) Historical dynamical downscaling for East Asia with the atmosphere and ocean coupled regional model. J Meteor Soc Japan 94A:199–208. https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2015-046

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heather HM, Bourassa MA (2014) The effects of gap-wind-induced vorticity, the monsoon trough, and the ITCZ on East Pacific tropical cyclogenesis. Mon Wea Rev 142:1312–1325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hidalgo HG, Durán-Quesada AM, Amador JA, Alfaro EJ (2015) The Caribbean low-level jet, the inter-tropical convergence zone and precipitation patterns in the intra-Americas sea: a proposed dynamical mechanism. Geogr Ann Ser B 97(1):41–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirpa FA, Gebremichael M, Hopson T (2010) Evaluation of high-resolution satellite precipitation products over very complex terrain in Ethiopia. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 49:1044–1051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong SY, Pan HL (1996) Nonlocal boundary layer vertical diffusion in a medium-range forecast model. Mon Weather Rev 124(10):2322–2339

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juang HM, Kanamitsu M (1994) The NMC nested regional spectral model. Mon Weather Rev 122:3–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kain J, Fritsch M (1993) Convective parameterization for mesoscale models: the Kain-Fritsch scheme. Meteorol Monogr 24:165–170

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanamaru H, Kanamitsu M (2007) Scale-selective bias correction in a downscaling of global reanalysis using a regional model. Mon Weather Rev 135:334–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanamitsu M, Ebisuzaki W, Woollen J, Yang SK, Hnilo JJ, Fiorino M, Potter GL (2002) NCEP–DOE AMIP-II reanalysis (R-2). Bull Am Meteor Soc 83:1631–1643. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-83-11-1631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanamitsu M, Yoshimura K, Yhang BY, Hong SY (2010) Errors of interannual variability and trend in dynamical downscaling of reanalysis. J Geophys Res Atmos. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler WS (2006) The circulation of the eastern tropical Pacific: a review. Prog Oceanogr 69:181–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King FD (1986) The dependence of primary production in the mixed layer of the eastern tropical Pacific on the vertical transport of nitrate. Deep-Sea Res I 33:733–754

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landsea CW, Franklin JL (2013) Atlantic hurricane database uncertainty and presentation of a new database format. Mon Wea Rev 141:3576–3592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Large WG, McWilliams JC, Doney SC (1994) Oceanic vertical mixing: a review and a model with a nonlocal boundary layer parameterization. Rev Geophys 32(4):363–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legeckis R (1988) Upwelling off the gulfs of Panama and Papagayo in the tropical Pacific during March 1985. J Geophys Res 93:15485–15489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Misra V (2014) Thirty-two-year ocean–atmosphere coupled downscaling of global reanalysis over the IntraAmerican Seas. Clim Dyn. 43:2471–2489. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2069-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Kanamitsu M, Hong S-Y, Yoshimura K, Cayan DR, Misra V (2014) A high-resolution ocean-atmosphere coupled downscaling of the present climate over California. Clim Dyn 42(3–4):701–714. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-1670-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magaña V, Amador JA, Medina S (1999) The midsummer drought over Mexico and Central America. J Clim 12(6):1577–1588

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maldonado T, Alfaro EJ, Hidalgo HG (2018) A review of the main drivers and variability of Central America’s climate and seasonal forecast systems. Rev Biol Trop 66:S153-175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mapes BE, Liu P, Buenning N (2005) Indian monsoon onset and the Americas midsummer drought: out-of equilibrium responses to smooth seasonal forcing. J Climate 18:1109–1115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCreary JP, Lee HS, Enfield DB (1989) The response of the coastal ocean to strong offshore winds: with application to circulations in the Gulfs of Tehuantepec and Papagayo. J Mar Res 47:81–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellor GL, Yamada T (1982) Development of a turbulence closure model for geophysical fluid problems. Rev Geophys 20:851–875. https://doi.org/10.1029/RG020i004p00851

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misra V (2020) Regionalizing global climate variations: a study of the Southeastern US regional climate. Elsevier, p 324 (ISBN: 978-0-12-821826-6)

    Google Scholar 

  • Misra V, Li H, Kozar M (2014) The precursors in the intra-Americas Seas to seasonal climate variations over North America. J Geophys Res (oceans) 119(5):2938–2948. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JC009911

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misra V, Groenen D, Bhardwaj A, Mishra A (2016) The warm pool variability of the tropical northeast Pacific. Int Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.4658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misra V, Mishra A, Bhardwaj A (2017) High-resolution regional-coupled ocean–atmosphere simulation of the Indian summer monsoon. Int J Climatol. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc5034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Misra V, Mishra A, Bhardwaj A (2018) Simulation of the intraseasonal variations of the Indian summer monsoon in a regional coupled ocean-atmosphere model. J Clim 31:3167–3185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moorthi S, Suarez MJ (1992) Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert. A parameterization of moist convection for general circulation models. Mon Weather Rev 120(6):978–1002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris SS, Gonzales ON, Carletto C, Munguia M, Medina JM, Wodon Q (2002) Hurricane Mitch and the livelihoods of the rural poor in Honduras. World Dev 30:49–60

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munoz E, Busalacchi AJ, Nigam S, Ruiz-Barradas A (2008) Winter and summer structure of the Caribbean low-level jet. J Climate. https://doi.org/10.1175/2007JCLI1855.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NOAA National Geophysical Data Center (2006) 2-minute gridded global relief data (ETOPO2)v2. NOAA Natl Cent Environ Inf. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5J1012Q

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perez JS, Cervantes HH, Gutierrez G (2000) Gyres observed with altimetry in the tropical Pacific Ocean. SPIE proceedings, vol. 4172, Remote Sensing of the Ocean and the Sea Ice, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.411707

  • Poveda G, Mesa OJ (1999) The westerly Colombian low-level jet (“CHOCO”) and two other low-level jets over Colombia: Climatology and variability during ENSO phases (In Spanish), Revista Academia Colombiana de Ciencias, Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 23(89): 517–528

  • Quirós-Badilla E, Hidalgo-León HG (2016) Variabilidad y conexiones climáticas de la zona de convergencia intertropical del Pacífico este. Topicos Meteorologicos y Oceanograficos, 15(1): 21–36

  • Retana JA (2012) Eventos hidrometeorológicos extremos lluviosos en Costa Rica desde la perspectiva de la adaptación al cambio en el clima. Ambientales 44: 5–16.

  • Reynolds RW, Smith TM, Liu C, Chelton DB, Casey KS, Schlax MG (2007) Daily high-resolution-blended analyses for sea surface temperature. J Clim 20:5473–5496. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00293.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romero-Centeno R, Zavala-Hidalgo J, Gallegos A, O'Brien JJ (2003) Isthmus of Tehuantepec wind climatology and ENSO signal. J Clim 16:2628–2639

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saha S et al (2010) The NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis. Bull Am Soc 91:1015–1058. https://doi.org/10.1175/2010BAMS3001.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz DM, Bracken WE, Bosart LF (1998) Planetary- and synoptic-scale signatures associated with Central American cold surges. Mon Weather Rev 126(1):5–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Selman C, Misra V (2015) Simulating diurnal variations over the southeastern United States. J Geophys Res Atmos 120:180–198. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD021812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shchepetkin AF, McWilliams JC (2005) The regional oceanic modeling system (ROMS): a split-explicit, free-surface, topography-following-coordinate oceanic model. Ocean Model 9(4):347–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheng J, Tang L (2003) A numerical study of circulation in the Western Caribbean Sea. J Phys Oceanogr 33:2049–2069

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shige S, Nakano Y, Yamamoto MK (2017) Role of orography, diurnal cycle, and intraseasonal oscillation in summer monsoon rainfall over the Western Ghats and Myanmar Coast. J Climate 30:9365–9381. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0858.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer N, Urquhart M-A (2018) Hurricane strikes and migration: evidence from storms in Central America and the Caribbean. Weather Clim Soc 10:569–577

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun Q, Miao C, Duan Q, Ashouri H, Sorooshian S, Hsu KL (2018) A review of global precipitation data sets: data sources, estimation, and intercomparisons. Rev Geophys 56(1):79–107. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017RG000574

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatsumi Y (1986) A spectral limited area model with time dependent lateral boundary conditions and its application to a multi-level primitive equation model. J Meteor Soc Jpn 64:637–663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiedtke M (1983) The sensitivity of the time-mean large-scale flow to cumulus convection in the ECMWF model. Proceedings of ECMWF workshop on convective in large-scale models. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, United Kingdom, pp 297–316

    Google Scholar 

  • Timmermann A et al (2007) The influence of a weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on ENSO. J Climate 20:4899–4919

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torres-Alavez JA, Das S, Corrales-Suatesgui A, Coppola E, Giorgi F, Raffaele F, Bukovsky MS, Ashfaq M, Salinas JA, Sines T (2021) Future projections in the climatology of global low-level jets from CORDEX-CORE simulations. Clim Dyn 57:1551–1569

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ullrich PA, Zarzycki CM (2017) TempestExtremes v1.0: a framework for scale-insensitive pointwise feature tracking on unstructured grids. Geosci Model Dev Discuss. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2016-217

  • Umlauf L, Burchard H (2003) A generic length-scale equation for geophysical turbulence models. J Mar Res 61(2):235–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C (2007) Variability of the Caribbean low-level jet and its relations to climate. Clim Dyn 29:411–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Enfield DB (2001) The tropical western hemisphere warm pool. Geophys Res Lett 28:1635–1638

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Lee S-K, Enfield DB (2007) Impact of the Atlantic warm pool on the summer climate of the Western Hemisphere. J Clim 20(20):5021–5040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang C, Lee S-K, Enfield DB (2008) Climate response to anomalously large and small Atlantic warm pools during the summer. J Climate 21:2437–2450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster S, Brown AR, Cameron DR, Jones CP (2003) Improvements to the representation of orography in the Met Office Unified Model. Quart Roy Soc 129:1989–2010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyrtki K (1964) Upwelling in the Costa Rica Dome. Fish Bull 63:355–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie P, Yatagai A, Chen M, Hayasaka T, Fukushima Y, Liu C, Yang S (2007) A gauge based analysis of daily precipitation over East Asia. J Hydrometeorol 8:607–626. https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM583.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xie S-P, Okumura Y, Miyama T, Timmermann A (2008) Influences of Atlantic climate change on the tropical Pacific via the Central America Isthmus. J Climate 21:3914–3928

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yorgun MS, Rood RB (2014) An object-based approach for quantification of GCM biases of the simulation of orographic precipitation. Part I: idealized simulations. J Clim 27:9139–9154. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00051.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Q, Carr FH (1997) A prognostic cloud scheme for operational NWP models. Mon Weather Rev 125(8):1931–1953

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funds, grants, or other support was received for conducting this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Vasubandhu Misra

  2. Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Vasubandhu Misra & C. B. Jayasankar

  3. Florida Climate Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Vasubandhu Misra & C. B. Jayasankar

Authors
  1. Vasubandhu Misra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. B. Jayasankar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Corresponding author contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were equally done by VM and CBJ. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vasubandhu Misra.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

None.

Ethical approval

COPE guidelines have been followed.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Misra, V., Jayasankar, C.B. A high resolution coupled ocean-atmosphere simulation of the regional climate over Central America. Clim Dyn 58, 2981–3001 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-06083-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-021-06083-2

Search

Navigation