21, 117-122.
The simulation of the northern and southern polar climates for 1979 - 1988 by fourteen global climate models (GCMs), using the observed monthly averaged sea surface temperatures and sea ice extents as boundary conditions, is a part of an international effort to determine the systematic errors of atmospheric models under realistic conditions, the socalled Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP). In this study, intercomparison of the models' simulation of polar climate is discussed in terms of selected surface and vertically integrated monthly averaged quantities, such as sealevel pressure, cloudiness, precipitable water, precipitation, and evaporation/sublimation. The results suggest that the accuracy of model simulated climate features in high latitudes primarily depends on the horizontal resolution and the treatment of physical processes in the GCMs. AMIP offers an unprecedented opportunity for the comprehensive evaluation and validation of current atmospheric models and provides valuable information for model improvement.
This research was supported by Office of Polar Programs of National Science Foundation and National Aeronautics and Space Administration