PALEOLINK scientific goals

Fig. 2: Co-evolution of the summer (June–August) temperature and precipitation at regional scale and their relation with external forcings in the Iberian Peninsula during the last millennium in two RCM simulations. (Taken from Gómez-Navarro JJ et al. 2012. "Internal and external variability in regional simulations of the Iberian Peninsula climate over the last millennium", Clim. Past 8, 25-36, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-25-2012)

PALEOLINK promotes reviewing, coordinating and stimulating future efforts to try to bridge the scale gap between the coarse resolution of state-of-the-art Earth System Models used in paleoclimate simulations and local and regional climate reconstructions.

Both dynamical and statistical approaches to downscaling are considered, as well as novel combinations of both, including the use of forward models driven by downscaled climate model data reproducing the local climate and its variability.

Some key specific goals of the project are:

1. Explore and characterize the added value of costly RCM simulations in model-reconstruction comparison exercises.

2. Critically and jointly evaluate the performance of dynamical and statistical approaches to downscaling.

3. Use the better performance of the simulations at regional scales to gain insight into extreme events in a paleoclimate context.

4. Take advantage of the better resolved physical processes to advance in forward modeling approaches.

5. Act as condensation nucleus to grow a community around the use of RCMs for paleoclimate purposes.