Implementation of a new version of the regional climate model REMO over South Asia

In the present study, the new version of the regional climate model REMO, i.e., REMO2020, will be applied over the South Asia domain as part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)-funded project titled “Modeling South Asian climate in relation to irrigation and land use changes using a modified scheme for soil hydrology and an interactive vegetation scheme in a regional climate model (MOSAIC)”. The new version has been updated in several aspects compared to the earlier version, REMO2015. Key updates include the implementation of a default lake module (FLake), a three-layered snow module, and a state-of-the-art MACv2-SP aerosol climatology. The model has already been implemented over the European domain and outperforms the previous version in simulating regional climate, especially extremes.

The MOSAIC project will utilize REMO2020 to simulate the South Asian region at a 12 km (0.11°) resolution, emphasizing the monsoon dynamics. Boundary conditions will be provided by ERA5 data, which includes 49 vertical levels, covering the period from 1985 to 2015. To enhance the assessment, REMO2020 outputs will be compared with the existing CORDEX-CORE REMO2015 for precipitation and temperature variables. Additional analyses will also be conducted to assess the model’s effectiveness in representing monsoonal processes.