Impact of surface coupling grids on tropical cyclone extremes in high-resolution atmospheric simulations
Abstract
This article discusses the sensitivity of tropical cyclone climatology to surface coupling strategy in high-resolution configurations of the Community Earth System Model. Using two supported model setups, we demonstrate that the choice of grid on which the lowest model level wind stress and surface fluxes are computed may lead to differences in cyclone strength in multi-decadal climate simulations, particularly for the most intense cyclones. Using a deterministic framework, we show that when these surface quantities are calculated on an ocean grid that is coarser than the atmosphere, the computed frictional stress is misaligned with wind vectors in individual atmospheric grid cells. This reduces the effective surface drag, and results in more intense cyclones when compared to a model configuration where the ocean and atmosphere are of equivalent resolution. Our results demonstrate that the choice of computation grid for atmosphere–ocean interactions is non-negligible when considering climate extremes at high horizontal resolution, especially when model components are on highly disparate grids.
- Authors:
-
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
- State Univ. of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR). Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23) Regional and Global Climate Modeling Program (RGCM); National Science Foundation (NSF); State of Illinois
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1268219
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357; FC02-97ER62402
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online); Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 1991-9603
- Publisher:
- European Geosciences Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; element dynamical core; interannual variability; global-model; climate; frequency; gcm; temperature; project; amip; cam
Citation Formats
Zarzycki, Colin M., Reed, Kevin A., Bacmeister, Julio T., Craig, Anthony P., Bates, Susan C., and Rosenbloom, Nan A. Impact of surface coupling grids on tropical cyclone extremes in high-resolution atmospheric simulations. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.5194/gmd-9-779-2016.
Zarzycki, Colin M., Reed, Kevin A., Bacmeister, Julio T., Craig, Anthony P., Bates, Susan C., & Rosenbloom, Nan A. Impact of surface coupling grids on tropical cyclone extremes in high-resolution atmospheric simulations. United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-779-2016
Zarzycki, Colin M., Reed, Kevin A., Bacmeister, Julio T., Craig, Anthony P., Bates, Susan C., and Rosenbloom, Nan A. Thu .
"Impact of surface coupling grids on tropical cyclone extremes in high-resolution atmospheric simulations". United States. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-779-2016. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1268219.
@article{osti_1268219,
title = {Impact of surface coupling grids on tropical cyclone extremes in high-resolution atmospheric simulations},
author = {Zarzycki, Colin M. and Reed, Kevin A. and Bacmeister, Julio T. and Craig, Anthony P. and Bates, Susan C. and Rosenbloom, Nan A.},
abstractNote = {This article discusses the sensitivity of tropical cyclone climatology to surface coupling strategy in high-resolution configurations of the Community Earth System Model. Using two supported model setups, we demonstrate that the choice of grid on which the lowest model level wind stress and surface fluxes are computed may lead to differences in cyclone strength in multi-decadal climate simulations, particularly for the most intense cyclones. Using a deterministic framework, we show that when these surface quantities are calculated on an ocean grid that is coarser than the atmosphere, the computed frictional stress is misaligned with wind vectors in individual atmospheric grid cells. This reduces the effective surface drag, and results in more intense cyclones when compared to a model configuration where the ocean and atmosphere are of equivalent resolution. Our results demonstrate that the choice of computation grid for atmosphere–ocean interactions is non-negligible when considering climate extremes at high horizontal resolution, especially when model components are on highly disparate grids.},
doi = {10.5194/gmd-9-779-2016},
journal = {Geoscientific Model Development (Online)},
number = 2,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2016},
month = {Thu Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2016}
}
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