The importance of regional climate modeling has been underlined by the inclusion of a chapter of regional modeling in the third assessment of the IPCC on climate change. In the last few years, NIWA, New Zealand, has been working towards developing a RCM capability for New Zealand, using the UK Met Office Unified Model. We will use the RCM to simulate New Zealand's present day's climate, simulate past climates (at this time, particular the Last Glacial Maximum, -LGM-) and make future regional climate predictions.

Future climate predictions very much depend on the accuracy and the validity of the model. It's therefore crucial that climate models are tested first in their capability in reconstructing past climates before any statistical meaning can be given on how correct the model's future climate predictions are. The aim of the LGM simulations is to help assess and synthesize available paleo proxy data, in collaboration with paleogeology and paleoecology groups.

This talk will describe progress to date on running and testing the RCM for NZ.