Vanessa Magaña

Previous work summarized the application of global models to simulate climate. The horizontal resolution of these models—generally 1–3 degrees latitude and longitude—while adequate for resolving sub-continental North American climate features, is insufficient for simulating the more detailed properties of regional climate, such as those represented in impacts models. Regionalized processes are also needed to resolve important processes at finer scales than those represented in global climate models. Such processes may include local conditions such as narrow jet cores, sea breeze type circulations, lake effects, and the atmospheric response to complex terrain. To achieve higher resolution, a variety of so-called downscaling methods have been developed. This chapter reviews these methods and the results of applying them to the regional climate change problem.