Most extreme precipitation events that occur along the North American west coast are associated with winter atmospheric river (AR) events. Global climate models have sufficient resolution to simulate synoptic features associated with AR events, such as high values of vertically integrated water vapor transport (IVT) approaching the coast. From phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), 10 simulations are used to identify changes in ARs impacting the west coast of North America between historical (1970–99) and end-of-century (2070–99) runs, using representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5. The most extreme ARs are identified in both time periods by the 99th percentile of IVT days along a north–south transect offshore of the coast. Integrated water vapor (IWV) and IVT are predicted to increase, while lower-tropospheric winds change little. Winter mean precipitation along the west coast increases by 11%–18% [from 4% to 6% (°C)−1], while precipitation on extreme IVT days increases by 15%–39% [from 5% to 19% (°C)−1]. The frequency of IVT days above the historical 99th percentile threshold increases as much as 290% by the end of this century.

This paper provides a synthesis of results that have emerged from recent modeling studies of the potential sensitivity of U.S. regional ozone (O3) concentrations to global climate change (ca. 2050). This research has been carried out under the auspices of an ongoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment effort to increase scientific understanding of the multiple complex interactions among climate, emissions, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality. The ultimate goal is to enhance the ability of air quality managers to consider global change in their decisions through improved characterization of the potential effects of global change on air quality, including O3. The results discussed here are interim, representing the first phase of the EPA assessment. The aim in this first phase was to consider the effects of climate change alone on air quality, without accompanying changes in anthropogenic emissions of precursor pollutants. Across all of the modeling experiments carried out by t... Abstract This paper provides a synthesis of results that have emerged from recent modeling studies of the potential sensitivity of U.S. regional ozone (O3) concentrations to global climate change (ca. 2050). This research has been carried out under the auspices of an ongoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assessment effort to increase scientific understanding of the multiple complex interactions among climate, emissions, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality. The ultimate goal is to enhance the ability of air quality managers to consider global change in their decisions through improved characterization of the potential effects of global change on air quality, including O3. The results discussed here are interim, representing the first phase of the EPA assessment. The aim in this first phase was to consider the effects of climate change alone on air quality, without accompanying changes in anthropogenic emissions of precursor pollutants. Across all of the modeling experiments carried out by t...

Simulations of future climate scenarios produced with a high-resolution climate model show markedly different trends in temperature and precipitation over the Pacific Northwest than in the global model in which it is nested, apparently because of mesoscale processes not being resolved at coarse resolution. Present-day (1990–99) and future (2020–29, 2045–54, and 2090–99) conditions are simulated at high resolution (15-km grid spacing) using the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) system and forced by ECHAM5 global simulations. Simulations use the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A2 emissions scenario, which assumes a rapid increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. The mesoscale simulations produce regional alterations in snow cover, cloudiness, and circulation patterns associated with interactions between the large-scale climate change and the regional topography and land–water contrasts. These changes substantially alter the temperature and precipitation trends over the region relative to the global model result or statistical downscaling. Warming is significantly amplified through snow–albedo feedback in regions where snow cover is lost. Increased onshore flow in the spring reduces the daytime warming along the coast. Precipitation increases in autumn are amplified over topography because of changes in the large-scale circulation and its interaction with the terrain. The robustness of the modeling results is established through comparisons with the observed and simulated seasonal variability and with statistical downscaling results.

Global simulations of precipitation from climate models lack sufficient resolution and contain large biases that make them unsuitable for regional studies, such as forcing hydrologic simulations. In this study, the effectiveness of several methods to downscale large‐scale precipitation is examined. To facilitate comparisons with observations and to remove uncertainties in other fields, large‐scale predictor fields to be downscaled are taken from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalyses. Three downscaling methods are used: (1): a local scaling of the simulated large‐scale precipitation; (2) a modified scaling of simulated precipitation that takes into account the large‐scale wind field; and (3) an analogue method with 1000 hPa heights as predictor.A hydrologic model of the Yakima River in central Washington state, USA, is then forced by the three downscaled precipitation datasets. Simulations with the raw large‐scale precipitation and gridded observations are also made. Comparisons among these simulated flows reveal the effectiveness of the downscaling methods. The local scaling of the simulated large‐scale precipitation is shown to be quite successful and simple to implement. Furthermore, the tuning of the downscaling methods is valid across phases of the Pacific decadal oscillation, suggesting that the methods are applicable to climate‐change studies. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society