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REVIEW article

Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Atmospheric Science
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2024.1427783

Recent progress in atmospheric modeling over the Andes -Part I: review of atmospheric processes

Provisionally accepted
J. A. Martinez J. A. Martinez 1*Clementine Junquas Clementine Junquas 2,3Deniz Bozkurt Deniz Bozkurt 4,5,6Maximiliano Viale Maximiliano Viale 7Lluís Fita Lluís Fita 10,8,9Katja Trachte Katja Trachte 11LENIN CAMPOZANO LENIN CAMPOZANO 12Paola A. Arias Paola A. Arias 13Juan P. Boisier Juan P. Boisier 4Thomas CONDOM Thomas CONDOM 2Jhan Carlo Espinoza Jhan Carlo Espinoza 2Katerina Goubanova Katerina Goubanova 14José Daniel Pabón-Caicedo José Daniel Pabón-Caicedo 15GERMAN POVEDA GERMAN POVEDA 16Silvina A. Solman Silvina A. Solman 10,17,9Anna Sorensson Anna Sorensson 10,8,9
  • 1 University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia
  • 2 Other, Grenoble, France
  • 3 Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología del Perú (SENAMHI), Lima, Peru
  • 4 Center for Climate and Resilience Research, University of Chile, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
  • 5 Other, Valparaiso, Chile
  • 6 Center for Oceanographic Research, University of Concepcion, Concepción, VIII Biobío Region, Chile
  • 7 CONICET Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences (IANIGLA), Mendoza, Mendoza, Argentina
  • 8 Other, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 9 CONICET Centro de Investigaciones del Mar y la Atmósfera (CIMA), Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 10 UMI3351 Institut Franco Argentin d'études sur le climat et ses impacts (IFAECI), Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 11 Other, Brandenburg, Germany
  • 12 Other, Quito, Ecuador
  • 13 Other, Medellin, Colombia
  • 14 Other, La Serena, Chile
  • 15 Other, Bogota, Colombia
  • 16 National University of Colombia, Medellin, Medellin, Colombia
  • 17 Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world, stretching from tropical South America to austral Patagonia (12°N-55°S). Along with the climate differences associated with latitude, the Andean region also features contrasting slopes and elevations, reaching altitudes of more than 4000 m.a.s.l., in a relatively narrow crosswise section, and hosts diverse ecosystems and human settlements. This complex landscape poses a great challenge to weather and climate simulations. The interaction of the topography with the large-scale atmospheric motions controls meteorological phenomena at scales of a few kilometers, often inadequately represented in global (grid spacing 200-50 km) and regional (~ 50-25 km) climate simulations previously studied for the Andes. These simulations typically exhibit large biases in precipitation, wind and near-surface temperature over the Andes, and they are not suited to represent strong gradients associated with the regional processes. In recent years (~2010-2024), a number of modeling studies, including convection permitting simulations, have contributed to our understanding of the characteristics and distribution of a variety of systems and processes along the Andes, including orographic precipitation, precipitation hotspots, mountain circulations, gravity waves, among others. This is Part I of a two-part review about atmospheric modeling over the Andes. In Part I we review the current strengths and limitations of numerical modeling in simulating key atmospheric-orographic processes for the weather and climate of the Andean region, including low-level jets, downslope winds, gravity waves, and orographic precipitation, among others. In Part II, we review how climate models simulate surface-atmosphere interactions and hydroclimate processes in the Andes Cordillera to offer information on projections for land-cover/land-use change or climate change. With a focus on the hydroclimate, we also address some of the main challenges in numerical modeling for the region.

    Keywords: atmospheric modeling, Andes, complex terrain, Mountain hydroclimate, Mesoscale Meteorology

    Received: 04 May 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Martinez, Junquas, Bozkurt, Viale, Fita, Trachte, CAMPOZANO, Arias, Boisier, CONDOM, Espinoza, Goubanova, Pabón-Caicedo, POVEDA, Solman and Sorensson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: J. A. Martinez, University of Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.