Scope

The conference is a follow-up to the regional-scale climate modelling workshop held in Lund, Sweden in 2004. Developments and progress achieved in the last five years will be presented and discussed along with open issues and expected future challenges related to regional climate modelling. The meeting will cover a wide range of RCM-related topics from basic research - such as theoretical aspects of numerics and parameterizations - to applications such as impact studies in the context of climate variability and change. The workshop is endorsed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), its World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and its Regional Hydroclimate Project BALTEX, as well as by the EU/FP6 project ENSEMBLES and the North American Regional Climate Change Programme (NARCCAP). The workshop is organized by Lund University, SMHI, DMI and GKSS with support by the International BALTEX Secretariat. Invited and contributed papers will be presented in plenary along with extended poster sessions. Workshop language will be English.

Topics/Sessions

Dynamical Downscaling
Contributions will be on the development of alternative nudging techniques, the influence of domain choice, the quantitative demonstration of the added value of regional climate models, and the complementarity of dynamical and statistical downscaling.

New Developments in Numerics and Physical Parameterisations
Progress and challenges in the development of numerical techniques as well as physical parameterizations and their dependence on resolution will be summarized and discussed.

From Weather to Climate
Regional models are widely used in short range weather forecast and in seasonal to decadal predictions. Seamless prediction systems attempt to unify weather and climate prediction. This session is also open to contributions on data assimilation, model/simulation initialization, and ensemble prediction.

Regional Observational Data and Reanalysis
Presentations on high-resolution regional datasets and regional re-analyses.

Results from Large Projects
Several large projects include regional-scale climate modelling as a major component (e.g. ENSEMBLES, NARCCAP, CIRCE and MRED). Overview presentations on these projects with respect to their contribution to regional-scale climate modelling are especially welcome.

The Future of RCMs
What are future challenges for regional-scale climate modelling? Examples include regional Earth system models and very high resolution RCMs.

Impact Studies
RCMs are increasingly being used as tools for the quantification of regional impacts in the context of global change. The workshop is expected to cover – and is open to – studies of the impacts of past and future climate variability and change, as well as other related topics such as the impacts of environmental pollution and other anthropogenic activities.