JANUARY AND JULY CLIMATE SIMULATIONS OVER THE AUSTRALIAN REGION USINGA LIMITED-AREA MODEL

High-resolution climate simulations are presented for January and July over the Australian region using a limited-area model nested within a GCM. One new aspect of these simulations is that the model domain ext ends to tropical regions both north and south of the equator. Objectiv e measures of skill are used to assess the quality of the model simula tions, and the performance of the model is verified over various subre gions of the model domain. Poleward of tropical regions, the nested mo del climatologies produced are generally superior to those produced by the GCM, and compare reasonably well to observations over the Austral ian continent at the regional scale; in particular the simulations of precipitation and screen temperature are improved.