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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

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022524· OSTI ID:1201337
 [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)
+ Show Author Affiliations

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.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1201337
Report Number(s):
BNL-107833-2015-JA; R&D Project: 2016-BNL-EE631EECA-Budg; KP1703020
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 12; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 17 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

On Which Microphysical Time Scales to Use in Studies of Entrainment‐Mixing Mechanisms in Clouds journal April 2018
Observational Relationship Between Entrainment Rate and Environmental Relative Humidity and Implications for Convection Parameterization journal December 2018
Transition Zone Radiative Effects in Shortwave Radiation Parameterizations: Case of Weather Research and Forecasting Model journal December 2019

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES