Abstract
This study aimed to assess the capabilities of the regional climate model (RCM) COSMO‐CLM in reproducing the main climate features of the Middle East and Northern Africa ( MENA ) domain. Two ERA ‐Interim‐driven simulations were performed at 0.44° and 0.22° spatial resolution for the period 1979–2011 with an optimized model configuration. Model response has been analysed in terms of low level circulation, 2‐m temperature, precipitation and cloud cover. Evaluation was conducted with respect to a combination of available ground observations, satellite products and reanalysis. Results reveal a good accuracy of the model in reproducing the circulation and a satisfactory representation of temperature, compared with other state‐of‐art RCMs , confirming that the albedo and aerosol parameterization schemes adopted lead to a remarkable improvement in model performances. The effects of increasing spatial resolution on the quality of the results have also been investigated. A comparison between the two simulations revealed that improvements with the resolution increase have been achieved for the temperature interannual variability, for monthly precipitation mean values, for cloud cover and for the representation of extreme precipitation events.