An evaluation of the seasonal added value of downscaling over the United States using new verification measures

Two separate dynamically downscaled ensembles are used to assess the added value of downscaling over the continental United States on a seasonal timescale. One data set is from a 55-year continuous run forced with observed sea surface temperatures. The other data set has downscaling results from seven regional models for 21 winters forced from a single coupled global model. The second data set, known as the Multi-RCM Ensemble Downscaling (MRED) project was used as a collection of individual models as well as a multi-model ensemble. The data was first tested for the potential loss of small-scale details due to averaging, and it was found that the number of small-scale details is not reduced when averaging over several models or several years. The added value of the downscaling was then calculated by standard measures, including climatology and correlation, as well as two newer measures: the added value index (AVI) and fraction skill score (FSS). The additional verification measures provided more information about the added value than was found with the standard measures. In general, more added value was found with the multi-model ensemble than with individual models. While it was clear that the added value was dependent on the forcing model, regional model, season, variable, and region, there were some areas where the downscale consistently added value, particularly near the coast and in topographically interesting areas.