The role of land cover on the climate of glacial Europe
2020
Abstract. Earth system models show wide disagreement when simulating the climate of the continents at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This disagreement may be related to a variety of factors, including model resolution and an incomplete representation of Earth system processes. To assess the importance of resolution and land-atmosphere feedbacks on the climate of Europe, we performed an iterative, asynchronously coupled land-atmosphere modelling experiment that combined a global climate model, a regional climate model, and a dynamic vegetation model. The regional climate and land cover models were run at high (18 km) resolution over a domain covering the ice-free regions of Europe. Asynchronous coupling between the regional climate model and the vegetation model showed that the land-atmosphere coupling achieves quasi-equilibrium after four iterations. Modelled climate and land cover agree reasonably well with independent reconstructions based on pollen and other paleoenvironmental proxies. To assess the importance of land cover on the LGM climate of Europe, we performed a sensitivity test where we used LGM climate but present day land cover as boundary conditions. These simulations show that the LGM land-atmosphere feedback leads to colder and drier conditions around the Alps and a warmer and drier climate in southeastern Europe. Even in mid-latitude Europe where the land-atmosphere coupling strength is generally weak, and under glacial conditions with a southward displacement of the storm track and increased importance of the Atlantic, regional climate is significantly influenced by land cover.
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