AUTHORS | Leone Cavicchia (1), Enrico Scoccimarro (1,2), Silvio Gualdi (1,2), Paola Marson (11), Bodo Ahrens (3), SeÌgoleÌ€ne Berthou (5), Dario Conte (1), Alessandro Dell'aquila (6), Philippe Drobinski (5), Vladimir Djurdjevic (7), Clotilde Dubois (8), Clemente Gallardo (9), Laurent Li (5), Paolo Oddo (4), Antonella Sanna (1), Csaba Torma (10) |
ABSTRACT | Exploiting the added value of the ensemble of high-resolution model simulations provided by the Med-CORDEX coordinated initiative, an assessment of Mediterranean extreme precipitation as represented in different observational, reanalysis and modelling datasets is presented. A spatio-temporal characterisation of the long-term statistics of extreme precipitation is performed, using a number of different diagnostic indices. Employing a novel approach based on the timing of extreme precipitation, a number of physically consistent subregions are defined. Extreme precipitation diagnostics over the Mediterranean domain and physically homogeneous sub-domains are discussed, focussing on the impact of different model configurations (resolution, coupling and physical parameterisations) on the performance in reproducing observed precipitation. It is found that the agreement between the observed and modelled long-term statistics of extreme precipitation is more sensitive to the model convective parameterisation than to resolution or coupling. |