Articles | Volume 16, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3927-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3927-2023
Methods for assessment of models
 | 
13 Jul 2023
Methods for assessment of models |  | 13 Jul 2023

Evaluating precipitation distributions at regional scales: a benchmarking framework and application to CMIP5 and 6 models

Min-Seop Ahn, Paul A. Ullrich, Peter J. Gleckler, Jiwoo Lee, Ana C. Ordonez, and Angeline G. Pendergrass

Related authors

The DOE E3SM version 2.1: overview and assessment of the impacts of parameterized ocean submesoscales
Katherine M. Smith, Alice M. Barthel, LeAnn M. Conlon, Luke P. Van Roekel, Anthony Bartoletti, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Chengzhu Zhang, Carolyn Branecky Begeman, James J. Benedict, Gautam Bisht, Yan Feng, Walter Hannah, Bryce E. Harrop, Nicole Jeffery, Wuyin Lin, Po-Lun Ma, Mathew E. Maltrud, Mark R. Petersen, Balwinder Singh, Qi Tang, Teklu Tesfa, Jonathan D. Wolfe, Shaocheng Xie, Xue Zheng, Karthik Balaguru, Oluwayemi Garuba, Peter Gleckler, Aixue Hu, Jiwoo Lee, Ben Moore-Maley, and Ana C. Ordoñez
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1613–1633, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1613-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1613-2025, 2025
Short summary
A new metrics framework for quantifying and intercomparing atmospheric rivers in observations, reanalyses, and climate models
Bo Dong, Paul Ullrich, Jiwoo Lee, Peter Gleckler, Kristin Chang, and Travis A. O'Brien
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 961–976, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-961-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-961-2025, 2025
Short summary
The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP): Reviewing project history, evolution, infrastructure and implementation
Paul J. Durack, Karl E. Taylor, Peter J. Gleckler, Gerald A. Meehl, Bryan N. Lawrence, Curt Covey, Ronald J. Stouffer, Guillaume Levavasseur, Atef Ben-Nasser, Sebastien Denvil, Martina Stockhause, Jonathan M. Gregory, Martin Juckes, Sasha K. Ames, Fabrizio Antonio, David C. Bader, John P. Dunne, Daniel Ellis, Veronika Eyring, Sandro L. Fiore, Sylvie Joussaume, Philip Kershaw, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Michael Lautenschlager, Jiwoo Lee, Chris F. Mauzey, Matthew Mizielinski, Paola Nassisi, Alessandra Nuzzo, Eleanor O’Rourke, Jeffrey Painter, Gerald L. Potter, Sven Rodriguez, and Dean N. Williams
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3729,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3729, 2025
Short summary
Evaluating downscaled products with expected hydroclimatic co-variances
Seung H. Baek, Paul A. Ullrich, Bo Dong, and Jiwoo Lee
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8665–8681, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8665-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8665-2024, 2024
Short summary
Impact of ITCZ width on global climate: ITCZ-MIP
Angeline G. Pendergrass, Michael P. Byrne, Oliver Watt-Meyer, Penelope Maher, and Mark J. Webb
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 6365–6378, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6365-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-6365-2024, 2024
Short summary

Related subject area

Atmospheric sciences
FootNet v1.0: development of a machine learning emulator of atmospheric transport
Tai-Long He, Nikhil Dadheech, Tammy M. Thompson, and Alexander J. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1661–1671, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1661-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1661-2025, 2025
Short summary
Updates and evaluation of NOAA's online-coupled air quality model version 7 (AQMv7) within the Unified Forecast System
Wei Li, Beiming Tang, Patrick C. Campbell, Youhua Tang, Barry Baker, Zachary Moon, Daniel Tong, Jianping Huang, Kai Wang, Ivanka Stajner, and Raffaele Montuoro
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1635–1660, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1635-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1635-2025, 2025
Short summary
Quantifying the analysis uncertainty for nowcasting application
Yanwei Zhu, Aitor Atencia, Markus Dabernig, and Yong Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1545–1559, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1545-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1545-2025, 2025
Short summary
Improving the ensemble square root filter (EnSRF) in the Community Inversion Framework: a case study with ICON-ART 2024.01
Joël Thanwerdas, Antoine Berchet, Lionel Constantin, Aki Tsuruta, Michael Steiner, Friedemann Reum, Stephan Henne, and Dominik Brunner
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1505–1544, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1505-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1505-2025, 2025
Short summary
The MESSy DWARF (based on MESSy v2.55.2)
Astrid Kerkweg, Timo Kirfel, Duong H. Do, Sabine Griessbach, Patrick Jöckel, and Domenico Taraborrelli
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 1265–1286, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1265-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1265-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Abramowitz, G.: Towards a public, standardized, diagnostic benchmarking system for land surface models, Geosci. Model Dev., 5, 819–827, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-5-819-2012, 2012. 
Ahn, M. and Kang, I.: A practical approach to scale-adaptive deep convection in a GCM by controlling the cumulus base mass flux, npj Clim. Atmos. Sci., 1, 13, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-018-0021-0, 2018. 
Ahn, M.-S., Gleckler, P. J., Lee, J., Pendergrass, A. G., and Jakob, C.: Benchmarking Simulated Precipitation Variability Amplitude across Time Scales, J. Climate, 35, 3173–3196, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-21-0542.1, 2022. 
Ahn, M.-S., Ullrich, P. A., Lee, J., Gleckler, P. J., Ma, H.-Y., Terai, C. R., Bogenschutz, P. A., and Ordonez, A. C.: Bimodality in Simulated Precipitation Frequency Distributions and Its Relationship with Convective Parameterizations, npj Clim. Atmos. Sci., submitted, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2874349/v1, 2023. 
Ashouri, H., Hsu, K. L., Sorooshian, S., Braithwaite, D. K., Knapp, K. R., Cecil, L. D., Nelson, B. R., and Prat, O. P.: PERSIANN-CDR: Daily precipitation climate data record from multisatellite observations for hydrological and climate studies, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 69–83, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00068.1, 2015. 
Download
Short summary
We introduce a framework for regional-scale evaluation of simulated precipitation distributions with 62 climate reference regions and 10 metrics and apply it to evaluate CMIP5 and CMIP6 models against multiple satellite-based precipitation products. The common model biases identified in this study are mainly associated with the overestimated light precipitation and underestimated heavy precipitation. These biases persist from earlier-generation models and have been slightly improved in CMIP6.
Share