Journal Article
Regional climate downscaling over Europe: perspectives from the EURO-CORDEX community
Daniela Jacob; Claas Teichmann; Stefan Sobolowski; Eleni Katragkou; Ivonne Anders; Michal Belda; Rasmus Benestad; Fredrik Boberg; Erasmo Buonomo; Rita M. Cardoso; Ana Casanueva; Ole B. Christensen; Jens Hesselbjerg Christensen; Erika Coppola; Lesley De Cruz; Edouard L. Davin; Andreas Dobler; Marta Domínguez; Rowan Fealy; Jesus Fernandez; Miguel Angel Gaertner; Markel García-Díez; Filippo Giorgi; Andreas Gobiet; Klaus Goergen; Juan José Gómez-Navarro; Juan Jesús González Alemán; Claudia Gutiérrez; José M. Gutiérrez; Ivan Güttler; Andreas Haensler; Tomáš Halenka; Sonia Jerez; Pedro Jiménez-Guerrero; Richard G. Jones; Klaus Keuler; Erik Kjellström; Sebastian Knist; Sven Kotlarski; Douglas Maraun; Erik van Meijgaard; Paola Mercogliano; Juan Pedro Montávez; Antonio Navarra; Grigory Nikulin; Nathalie de Noblet-Ducoudré; Hans-Juergen Panitz; Susanne Pfeifer; Marie Piazza; Emanuela Pichelli; Joni-Pekka Pietikäinen; Andreas F. Prein; Swantje Preuschmann; Diana Rechid; Burkhardt Rockel; Raquel Romera; Enrique Sánchez; Kevin Sieck; Pedro M. M. Soares; Samuel Somot; Lidija Srnec; Silje Lund Sørland; Piet Termonia; Heimo Truhetz; Robert Vautard; Kirsten Warrach-Sagi; Volker Wulfmeyer
Regional Environmental Change · Vol. 20, Issue 2 · 2020
Abstract
The European CORDEX (EURO-CORDEX) initiative is a large voluntary effort that seeks to advance regional climate and Earth system science in Europe. As part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) - Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), it shares the broader goals of providing a model evaluation and climate projection framework and improving communication with both the General Circulation Model (GCM) and climate data user communities. EURO-CORDEX oversees the design and coordination of ongoing ensembles of regional climate projections of unprecedented size and resolution (0.11° EUR-11 and 0.44° EUR-44 domains). Additionally, the inclusion of empirical-statistical downscaling allows investigation of much larger multi-model ensembles. These complementary approaches provide a foundation for scientific studies within the climate research community and others. The value of the EURO-CORDEX ensemble is shown via numerous peer-reviewed studies and its use in the development of climate services. Evaluations of the EUR-44 and EUR-11 ensembles also show the benefits of higher resolution. However, significant challenges remain. To further advance scientific understanding, two flagship pilot studies (FPS) were initiated. The first investigates local-regional phenomena at convection-permitting scales over central Europe and the Mediterranean in collaboration with the Med-CORDEX community. The second investigates the impacts of land cover changes on European climate across spatial and temporal scales. Over the coming years, the EURO-CORDEX community looks forward to closer collaboration with other communities, new advances, supporting international initiatives such as the IPCC reports, and continuing to provide the basis for research on regional climate impacts and adaptation in Europe.