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Title: RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations. 3. Separation of parameterization biases in single-column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus

Abstract

Climatically important low-level clouds are commonly misrepresented in climate models. The FAst-physics System TEstbed and Research (FASTER) project has constructed case studies from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility's Southern Great Plain site during the RACORO aircraft campaign to facilitate research on model representation of boundary-layer clouds. This paper focuses on using the single-column Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (SCAM5) simulations of a multi-day continental shallow cumulus case to identify specific parameterization causes of low-cloud biases. Consistent model biases among the simulations driven by a set of alternative forcings suggest that uncertainty in the forcing plays only a relatively minor role. In-depth analysis reveals that the model's shallow cumulus convection scheme tends to significantly under-produce clouds during the times when shallow cumuli exist in the observations, while the deep convective and stratiform cloud schemes significantly over-produce low-level clouds throughout the day. The links between model biases and the underlying assumptions of the shallow cumulus scheme are further diagnosed with the aid of large-eddy simulations and aircraft measurements, and by suppressing the triggering of the deep convection scheme. It is found that the weak boundary layer turbulence simulated is directly responsible for the weak cumulus activity and the simulatedmore » boundary layer stratiform clouds. Increased vertical and temporal resolutions are shown to lead to stronger boundary layer turbulence and reduction of low-cloud biases.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [3];  [4]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  3. UCLA Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering (JIFRESSE), Los Angeles, CA (United States); Jet Propulsion Lab. and JIFRESSE, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  4. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1201337
Report Number(s):
BNL-107833-2015-JA
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X; R&D Project: 2016-BNL-EE631EECA-Budg; KP1703020
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC00112704
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 120; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Lin, Wuyin, Liu, Yangang, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Fridlind, Ann, Endo, Satoshi, Song, Hua, Feng, Sha, Toto, Tami, Li, Zhijin, and Zhang, Minghua. RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations. 3. Separation of parameterization biases in single-column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1002/2014JD022524.
Lin, Wuyin, Liu, Yangang, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Fridlind, Ann, Endo, Satoshi, Song, Hua, Feng, Sha, Toto, Tami, Li, Zhijin, & Zhang, Minghua. RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations. 3. Separation of parameterization biases in single-column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022524
Lin, Wuyin, Liu, Yangang, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Fridlind, Ann, Endo, Satoshi, Song, Hua, Feng, Sha, Toto, Tami, Li, Zhijin, and Zhang, Minghua. Fri . "RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations. 3. Separation of parameterization biases in single-column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022524. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1201337.
@article{osti_1201337,
title = {RACORO continental boundary layer cloud investigations. 3. Separation of parameterization biases in single-column model CAM5 simulations of shallow cumulus},
author = {Lin, Wuyin and Liu, Yangang and Vogelmann, Andrew M. and Fridlind, Ann and Endo, Satoshi and Song, Hua and Feng, Sha and Toto, Tami and Li, Zhijin and Zhang, Minghua},
abstractNote = {Climatically important low-level clouds are commonly misrepresented in climate models. The FAst-physics System TEstbed and Research (FASTER) project has constructed case studies from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility's Southern Great Plain site during the RACORO aircraft campaign to facilitate research on model representation of boundary-layer clouds. This paper focuses on using the single-column Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (SCAM5) simulations of a multi-day continental shallow cumulus case to identify specific parameterization causes of low-cloud biases. Consistent model biases among the simulations driven by a set of alternative forcings suggest that uncertainty in the forcing plays only a relatively minor role. In-depth analysis reveals that the model's shallow cumulus convection scheme tends to significantly under-produce clouds during the times when shallow cumuli exist in the observations, while the deep convective and stratiform cloud schemes significantly over-produce low-level clouds throughout the day. The links between model biases and the underlying assumptions of the shallow cumulus scheme are further diagnosed with the aid of large-eddy simulations and aircraft measurements, and by suppressing the triggering of the deep convection scheme. It is found that the weak boundary layer turbulence simulated is directly responsible for the weak cumulus activity and the simulated boundary layer stratiform clouds. Increased vertical and temporal resolutions are shown to lead to stronger boundary layer turbulence and reduction of low-cloud biases.},
doi = {10.1002/2014JD022524},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 12,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Jun 19 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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