Steger et al. (2026) European snow cover in the EURO-CORDEX regional climate model ensemble: model evaluation

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Identification

• Journal: Climate Dynamics
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-24
• Authors: Christian Roland Steger, Katharina Bülow, Claas Teichmann, Sven Kotlarski
• DOI: 10.1007/s00382-026-08343-5

Research Groups

• Department of Meteorology, University of Reading
• Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich
• National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), UK

Short Summary

This paper evaluates the representation of snow cover in the EURO-CORDEX regional climate model ensemble, comparing simulated data with reference datasets for present-day European climate conditions.

Objective

• Investigate how well regional climate models represent snow cover characteristics, including mean winter snow water equivalent and number of snow-covered days.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Regional scale (Europe) at 12 km resolution.
• Temporal Scale: Present day (1990–2008) and future projections (not evaluated in this study).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: EURO-CORDEX regional climate models (11 RCMs)
• Data sources: ERA-Interim reanalysis, general circulation model outputs, satellite-based remote-sensing data

Main Results

• The reanalysis-driven RCM ensemble mean agrees well with reference data for mean winter snow water equivalent at lower elevations.
• Model spread is substantial (± 50%) at high elevations.
• Simulated number of snow-covered days generally agree better with reference data than mean winter snow water equivalent.

Contributions

• This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of snow cover representation in the EURO-CORDEX regional climate model ensemble, highlighting biases and uncertainties associated with different forcing scenarios (reanalysis vs. GCM-driven).

Funding

• This research was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme (EURO-CORDEX project) and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Citation

@article{Steger2026European,
  author = {Steger, Christian Roland and Bülow, Katharina and Teichmann, Claas and Kotlarski, Sven},
  title = {European snow cover in the EURO-CORDEX regional climate model ensemble: model evaluation},
  journal = {Climate Dynamics},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1007/s00382-026-08343-5},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-026-08343-5}
}