108 Modellingthe climate
Figure 5.24(a) Representation of the Philippines in RCMs with resolutions of
25 km and 50 km and in a GCM with 400 km resolution; (b) patterns of
present-day winter precipitation over Great Britain, (i) as simulated with a
300 km resolution global model, (ii) with 50 km resolution regional model,
(iii) as observed with 10 km resolution.be ‘nested’ in a global model. The global model provides information
about the response of the global circulation to large-scale forcings and
the evolution of boundary information for the RCM. Within the region,
physical information, for instance concerning forcings, is entered on the
scale of the regional grid and the evolution of the detailed circulation
is developed within the RCM. The RCM is able to account for forcings
on smaller scales than are included in the GCM (e.g. due to topography
or land cover inhomogeneity, see Figure 5.24) and can also simulate
atmospheric circulations and climate variables on these smaller scales.