Streamflow simulations for continental-scale river basins in a global atmospheric general circulation model

Streamflow simulations for 23 major river basins from the third-generation general circulation model (GCM) of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis are assessed. Precipitation and runoff data are used from the AMIP II simulation in which the GCM is integrated for a 17-yr period with specific sea surface temperatures and sea-ice concentrations. Compared to the observations, the components of the global hydrological cycle and, the globally averaged precipitation and runoff over land, are well simulated. There remain, however, discrepancies in the simulation of regional precipitation and consequently runoff amounts, which lead to differences in basin-wide averaged quantities. Mean annual model precipitation is within 20% of the observed estimates for 13 out of 23 river basins considered. Model mean annual runoff is within 20% of the observed estimates for only 4 out of these 13 river basins. Analysis of basin-wide averaged monthly precipitation and streamflow data, and the errors associated with the mean, and amplitude and phase of the annual cycles, indicate that model streamflow simulations improve with improvement in GCM precipitation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.