Journal article

Using Global and Regional Model Simulations to Understand Maritime Continent Wet-Season Rainfall Variability

Andrew D King, Claire L Vincent

Geophysical Research Letters | American Geophysical Union | Published : 2018

Abstract

The Maritime Continent is a densely populated area of complex topography located between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is an area where model skill is particularly important but also difficult to obtain. In this study we examine interannual austral summer rainfall variability in the region and the teleconnection to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in observation‐based data, reanalyses, and global and regional atmosphere‐only model simulations. We show that model ability to capture interannual rainfall variability is strongly related to model skill in reproducing the ENSO teleconnection to the region, despite strong spatial variability in the ENSO‐rainfall response in coastal areas..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes


Awarded by Australian Research Council fellowship


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes (CE170100023). Andrew D. King was also funded by an Australian Research Council fellowship (DE180100638). We acknowledge the support of the NCI national computing facility in Australia and the World Climate Research Programme's Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP, and we thank the climate modeling groups for producing and making available their model output. For CMIP the U.S. Department of Energy's Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison provides coordinating support and led development of software infrastructure in partnership with the Global Organization for Earth System Science Portals.