Land use and land cover change strongly modulates land-atmosphere coupling and warm-season precipitation over the central United States in CESM2-VR

The spatial resolution of simulations is particularly relevant in this region due to its influence on model skill in capturing mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and on representing the spatial heterogeneity. Recent advances in Earth system models (ESMs) make it feasible to use variable resolution (VR) meshes to study regional impacts of LULCC while avoiding inconsistencies introduced by lateral boundary conditions typically seen in limited area models.

Here, we present numerical experiments using the Community Earth System Model version 2-VR to evaluate (1) the influence of resolution and land use on model skill and (2) impacts of LULCC over the central United States at different resolutions. These simulations are configured either on the 1 degrees grid or a VR grid with grid refinement to 1/8 degrees over the contiguous United States for the period of 1984-2010 with two alternative land use data sets corresponding to the preindustrial and present day states.