Roque et al. (2026) Intercomparison of a Regional Climate Model Ensemble for Selected European Catchments

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Identification

• Journal: International Journal of Climatology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-14
• Authors: Jane Leonor Roque, Francis da Silva Lopes, Julián Alberto Giles, Benjamin Daniel Gutknecht, Bernd Schalge, Yikui Zhang, Marco Ferro, Petra Friederichs, Klaus Goergen, Stefan Poll, Arianna Valmassoi
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.70554

Research Groups

Collaborative Research Centre 1502 (CRC1502)

Short Summary

This study presents a coordinated intercomparison of ICON and TSMP1 regional climate model simulations over Europe (1990–2020) to analyze water cycle processes, revealing systematic biases and demonstrating that ICON generally outperforms TSMP1, with higher-resolution forcing and irrigation improving specific model performances.

Objective

• To conduct a coordinated intercomparison of regional climate model simulations (ICON and TSMP1) for water cycle process analysis over Europe, aiming to understand regional hydroclimatic variability and its drivers.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Europe, focusing on four representative basins: Ebro, Po, Rhine, and Tisa, within the EURO-CORDEX domain.
• Temporal Scale: 1990–2020 (31 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: ICON and TSMP1 regional climate model systems. Sensitivity experiments included higher-resolution sea surface temperature (SST) forcing data and ICON simulations at 3 km resolution with irrigation.
• Data sources: E-OBS, GPCC, and GLEAM reference datasets.

Main Results

• Systematic cold biases were observed throughout most of Europe in the simulations.
• ICON generally outperformed TSMP1 across the evaluated metrics.
• ICON simulations exhibited heterogeneous precipitation biases, showing less overestimation compared to TSMP1.
• Both TSMP1 and ICON generally agreed on positive evapotranspiration (ET) biases in southern and western Europe and negative biases in the north and east, with TSMP1 showing greater local differences.
• Sensitivity experiments using higher-resolution SST forcing data produced comparable performance among themselves and outperformed other models in simulating precipitation over the Ebro and Rhine basins across most seasons.
• ICON simulations at 3 km resolution, including irrigation, improved the representation of summer temperature and precipitation in the Po basin.

Contributions

• Provides a first baseline evaluation of the CRC1502's multi-model ensemble for water cycle process analysis over Europe.
• Highlights key structural differences between ICON and TSMP1 that influence model behavior across various hydroclimatic regimes.
• Demonstrates the impact of higher-resolution forcing data and irrigation parameterization on regional climate model performance.

Funding

• Collaborative Research Centre 1502 (CRC1502)

Citation

@article{Roque2026Intercomparison,
  author = {Roque, Jane Leonor and Lopes, Francis da Silva and Giles, Julián Alberto and Gutknecht, Benjamin Daniel and Schalge, Bernd and Zhang, Yikui and Ferro, Marco and Friederichs, Petra and Goergen, Klaus and Poll, Stefan and Valmassoi, Arianna},
  title = {Intercomparison of a Regional Climate Model Ensemble for Selected European Catchments},
  journal = {International Journal of Climatology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1002/joc.70554},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.70554}
}