High-resolution simulation of French Polynesia climate

Islands of French Polynesia, located in the tropical Pacific Ocean, are small – Tahiti, the largest is about 50 km long – and can exhibit complex orography due to their volcanic origin. In order to simulate properly the atmospheric flow and convective motions over these islands, the non-hydrostatic model AROME is used at high-resolution (2.5 km) to produce a 20-year simulation of the climate over the Society Islands as well as part of the Tuamotu archipelago and Austral Islands. This simulation enables to evaluate AROME ability to simulate these island climates, particularly in terms of rainfall and wind.

AROME is significantly better than the quasi-hydrostatic regional climate model ALADIN with coarser resolution (20 km) at simulating the climate of French Polynesia, and provides a better description of this climate than the available gridded observation products.

By comparing model’s precipitation to observed precipitation at weather stations, results generally show a correct simulation of mean daily rainfall and diurnal cycles. There is however a dry bias for windward stations over Tahiti and a wet bias for leeward stations. These biases remain relatively weak and less pronounced than the biases of other gridded datasets such as IMERG and CMORPH satellite estimates.

The model also simulates winds that compare well to in situ observations and other gridded data. The typical island effect on low-level circulation is well simulated by AROME contrary to ERA5 and satellite data.