Simulation of the Younger Dryas climate in Europe using a regional climate model nested in an AGCM: preliminary results

The REMO regional climate model was applied for a simulation experiment on the European climate of the Younger Dryas, a distinct cooling event at the end of the last glacial. This regional simulation—with a 0.5×0.5° latitude–longitude resolution—was ‘nested’ in an experiment carried out with the ECHAM4/T42 atmospheric general circulation model. The objective is to evaluate the advantages of a regional climate model (compared to a global model) for palaeoclimate research. Therefore, we compared our regional and global Younger Dryas experiments with climate reconstructions based on palaeodata. The comparison reveals that both models simulate a similar Younger Dryas climate. In some instances, REMO simulates a YD climate that is in better agreement with palaeodata than ECHAM4, most notably for precipitation and winter temperatures. Moreover, the higher spatial resolution of REMO, giving a more realistic presentation of the topography, provides regional climatic information, such as precipitation and temperature gradients, that is valuable for palaeoclimate data studies. Consequently, our results illustrate the perspective of regional climate models for palaeoclimate studies.