4th EURO-CORDEX workshop on Convection Permitting Strategy, October 8, 2021

The fourth EURO-CORDEX workshop of 2021 took on the topic of convection permitting modelling. Many modelling teams in EURO CORDEX are involved in Flagship Pilot Studies focused on these scales and the time is ripe to discuss whether or not EURO-CORDEX should have a coordinated approach and what such an approach could look like. We had presentations from EUCP (Erika Coppola, Danijel Belusic), advocates for pan-European scales (Lizzie Kendon, Nikolina Ban) and those pushing the boundaries of what is possible (Christoph Schär). The ensuing discussion was broad ranging but we aimed to begin to address the following questions:

  • Do we need a coordinated approach to CPM?
  • If “yes”, should we recommend specific domains?
  • Where should boundary conditions come from? How to do this in a coordinated way to avoid mismatches and inconsistencies with the Euro-CORDEX 0.11 ensemble(s)?
  • If yes, what is the impact on the starting Euro-CORDEX/CMIP6 exercise ?
  • Do we already have requests from climate services for CPM? Or are CPM ensembles mature enough to provide climate services?

Real time polling yielded overwhelming support for a coordinated EURO-CORDEX approach to CPM and an even split on domains (pan-European vs. a “patchwork quilt”). Questions 3 and 4 are still to be discussed (CPM strategy will be a discussion topic at the 2022 EURO-CORDEX GA). The first part of question 5 is a “yes” while there is some debate on whether or not these tools are mature enough to provide bespoke climate services. Certainly, there was agreement that they should not be used in isolation and that careful guidance and interpretation is needed.