Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Progress in Physical Geography
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wilby, R.L.
Right arrow Articles by Wigley, T.M.L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Reviews

Downscaling general circulation model output: a review of methods and limitations

R.L. Wilby

Division of Geography, University of Derby, Kedleston Road, Derby DE22 1 GB, UK

T.M.L. Wigley

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA

General circulation models (GCMs) suggest that rising concentrations of greenhouse gases may have significant consequences for the global climate. What is less clear is the extent to which local (subgrid) scale meteorological processes will be affected. So-called 'downscaling' techniques have subsequently emerged as a means of bridging the gap between what climate modellers are currently able to provide and what impact assessors require. This article reviews the present generation of downscaling tools under four main headings: regression methods; weather pattern (circulation)-based approaches; stochastic weather generators; and limited-area climate models. The penultimate section summarizes the results of an international experiment to intercompare several precipitation models used for downscaling. It shows that circulation-based downscaling methods perform well in simulating present observed and model-generated daily precipitation characteristics, but are able to capture only part of the daily precipitation variability changes associated with model-derived changes in climate. The final section examines a number of ongoing challenges to the future development of climate downscaling.

Key Words: climate change • downscaling • precipitation • model.

Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 21, No. 4, 530-548 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/030913339702100403
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J Exp BotHome page
A. J. Challinor, F. Ewert, S. Arnold, E. Simelton, and E. Fraser
Crops and climate change: progress, trends, and challenges in simulating impacts and informing adaptation
J. Exp. Bot., July 1, 2009; 60(10): 2775 - 2789.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Geological Society, London, Special PublicationsHome page
J. Scibek, D. M. Allen, and P. H. Whitfield
Quantifying the impacts of climate change on groundwater in an unconfined aquifer that is strongly influenced by surface water
Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2008; 288(1): 79 - 98.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 BUILDING SERV ENG RES TECHNOLHome page
S. Belcher, J. Hacker, and D. Powell
Constructing design weather data for future climates
Building Service Engineering, February 1, 2005; 26(1): 49 - 61.
[Abstract] [PDF]