Guest editorial Special Issue on Regional Climate

Guest editorial
Special Issue on Regional Climate: Downscaling, Prediction and Impact
Assessment
Lian Xie and Fredrick Semazzi
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Adel Hanna
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Richard Anyah
University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
Huiwang Gao
Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Yijun He
Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
Although the issue of climate change is often dealt with in global perspective, the
impact of climate change must be assessed at regional scales. While global climate
models can provide projections of the average state of large-scale circulation of future
climate, the downscaling of such projections to regional scale with improved spatial and
temporal resolution for both the forcing fields and the climatic responses is the starting
point for assessing the impact of climate change. Therefore, it is important to not only
study climate change at global scale, but also study the regional manifestations of the
climate system at spatial scales ranging from hundreds to thousands of kilometers with
time scales of months to years to decades.
This special issue publishes a collection of 18 articles covering a wide range of topics of
in our understanding of "regional climate” from downscaling the variability of extreme
rainfall over the Yangtze River basin (Gao and Xie) and assessing the water resources in
the Yellow River region (Wu et al.) in China to forecast the precipitation and water
resources in the Lake Victoria region in East Africa (Sun et al., Argent et al., Kara and
Semazzi), from downscaling wind energy resources in the contiguous United States (Liu
et al.) to characterizing the precipitation extremes in the Carpathian region in central and
southern Europe (Gaal et al.), and from analyzing the energy balance in semi-arid
grasslands in China (Jiang et al.) to detecting future climate change signals in central and
eastern Europe from numerical model simulations (Belda et al.). This special issue also
includes articles addressing the impacts of regional climate change on tropical cyclones
over the Atlantic Ocean (Xie and Liu), on crop yields in North China (Liu et al.), on litter
production and nutrient dynamics in a plantation in China (Ge et al.), rainfall and drought
in Eastern Kenya (Kisaka et al.). Additionally, several articles with focuses on regional
climate downscaling methodologies are also included. Kim et al. studied the effects of
geographic features in a mountainous area on the downscaling of global climate model
data; Lee et al. demonstrated the feasibility of using the PRISM (Parameter-Elevation
Regression on Independent Slope Model) model to downscale maximum temperature to
sub-kilometer scale; Gao et al. applied the LASSO algorithm to statistically downscale
the ERA-interim precipitation forecast in complex terrain; and Min and Sun explored the
application of an atmosphere-cryosphere coupled model regional climate applications.
These eighteen articles reflect the recent advances and applications in “regional climate
downscaling, prediction and impact assessment” from a set of unique angles. We hope
they are of interest to peers. We would like to thank all of the authors, reviewers and
support staff from the editorial office in making this special issue possible.
Guest Editors:
Lian Xie, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Fredrick Semazzi, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
Adel Hanna, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Richard Anyah, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA
Huiwang Gao, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China
Yijun He, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province,
China
Suggested Table of Contents
Multivariate Regression Analysis and Statistical Modeling for Summer Extreme
Precipitation over the Yangtze River Basin, China, Tao Gao and Lian Xie
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 269059, 8 pages
Statistical Downscaling of ERA-Interim Forecast Precipitation Data in Complex Terrain
Using LASSO Algorithm, Lu Gao, Karsten Schulz, and Matthias Bernhardt
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 472741, 16 pages
The development of a customization framework for the WRF model over the Lake
Victoria Basin, Eastern Africa on seasonal timescales, Rowan Argent, Xia Sun, Fredrick
Semazzi, Lian Xie, and Bin Liu
Atmosphere-Cryosphere Coupled Model for Regional Climate Applications, Ki-Hong
Min, and Wen-Yih Sun
The Role of the Dominant Modes of Precipitation Variability over Eastern Africa in
Modulating the Hydrology of Lake Victoria, Kara A. Smith and Fredrick H. M. Semazzi
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 516762, 11 pages
A Numerical Investigation of the Precipitation over Lake Victoria Basin Using a Coupled
Atmosphere-Lake Limited-Area Model, Xia Sun, Lian Xie, Fredrick H. M. Semazzi, and
Bin Liu
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 960924, 15 pages
CECILIA regional climate simulations for future climate - analysis of climate change
signal, Michal Belda, Petr Skalák, Aleš Farda, Tomáš Halenka, Michel Deque, Gabriella
Csima, J. Bartholy, Csaba Torma, Constanta Boroneant, Mihaela Caian, and Valery
Spiridonov
Climate Change Scenarios of Precipitation Extremes in the Carpathian Region Based on
an Ensemble of Regional Climate Models, Ladislav Gaál, Romana Beranová, Kamila
Hlavčová, and Jan Kyselý
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 943487, 14 pages
Dynamical Downscaling of Climate Change Impacts on Wind Energy Resources in the
Contiguous United States by Using a Limited-Area Model with Scale-Selective Data
Assimilation, Bin Liu, Katelyn B. Costa, Lian Xie, and Fredrick H. M.Semazzi
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 897246, 11 pages
An ENSO-Forecast Independent Statistical Model for the Prediction of Annual Atlantic
Tropical Cyclone Frequency in April, Kenny Xie and Bin Liu
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 248148, 11 pages
Evaluation of Arctic Land Snow Cover Characteristics, Surface Albedo, and Temperature
during the Transition Seasons from Regional Climate Model Simulations and Satellite
Data, X. Zhou, H. Matthes, A. Rinke, K. Klehmet, B. Heim, W. Dorn, D. Klaus, K.
Dethloff, and B. Rockel
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 604157, 15 pages
A Regionalization of Downscaled GCM Data Considering Geographical Features in a
Mountainous Area, Soojun Kim, Jaewon Kwak, Hung Soo Kim, Yonsoo Kim, Narae
Kang, Seung Jin Hong, and Jongso Lee
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 473167, 14 pages
Downscaling Maximum Temperatures to Subkilometer Resolutions in the Shenandoah
National Park of Virginia, USA, Temple R. Lee, Stephan F. J. De Wekker, and John E.
B. Wofford
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 594965, 9 pages
Litter Production and Nutrient Dynamic on a Moso Bamboo Plantation following an
Extreme Disturbance of 2008 Ice Storm, Xiaogai Ge, Benzhi Zhou, and Yilin Tang
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 750865, 10 pages
Crop Yield and Temperature Changes in North China during 601–900 AD, Haolong Liu,
Quansheng Ge, Jingyun Zheng, Zhixin Hao, and Xuezhen Zhang
Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 137803, 6 pages
Seasonal and interannual variation in energy balance in the semi-arid grassland area of
China, Qun’ou Jiang, Enjun Ma, Jinyan Zhan, and Nana Shi
Assessment of Climate Change Effects on Water Resources in the Yellow River Basin,
China, Zhiyong Wu, Heng Xiao, Guihua Lu, and Jinming Chen
Rainfall Variability, Drought Characterization And Efficacy Of Rainfall Data
Reconstruction: Case Of Eastern, Kenya, Oscar Kisaka, Monica Mucheru-Muna, Felix
Ngetich, Jayne Njeri Mugwe, D. Mugendi, and Franklin Mairura