As part of its seasonal forecasting initiative, the Hong Kong Observatory
(HKO) adapted a regional climate model (RCM) developed by Experimental Climate Prediction Centre (ECPC)
of the University of California at San Diego in 2001 (Hui et. al., 2001).
The RCM is based on a regional
spectral model (RSM) of National Centers of Environmental Prediction
(NCEP) of the United States originally developed for short-range weather
prediction (Juang and Kanamitsu, 1994). The RSM was later successfully
adapted to operate in regional climate modelling applications (Hong
and Leetmaa, 1999).
After a few
years of using the RCM to provide seasonal forecasts for Hong Kong on experimental basis, the Observatory adapted another numerical model suite, also from ECPC in 2006, to replace the original RCM. The Global-Regional Climate Model (G-RCM) suite consists of a Global Spectral Model (GSM) and the latest version of the RCM of ECPC. It began providing seasonal forecasts on the web in Summer of 2007.
The
configurations of the G-RCM operated by the Hong Kong Observatory
are summarized as follows:
References
Hong, S.-Y. and Leetmaa,
A.: 1999, An evaluation of the NCEP RSM for regional climate modeling, J.
Climate 12, 592-609.
Hui, T.W., Yeung, K.H., and Chang, W.L.: 2001, Adaptation of NCEP RSM
model for long-range forecasting, the Third RSM International
Conference, Taipei, China, 23-27 July 2001. Hong Kong Observatory
Reprint No., 436, available online from
http://www.weather.gov.hk/publica/reprint/r436.pdf.
Juang, H.-M.H. and
Kanamitsu, M.: 1994, The NMC nested regional spectral model, Mon.
Wea. Rev., 122, 3-26.
