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Title: Improving Boundary-layer Turbulence and Cloud Processes in CAM with a Higher-order Turbulence Closure Scheme and ASR Measurement

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
 [1];  [2]
  1. Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA (United States)
  2. Climate Science Branch, Hampton, VA (United States)
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In this study, a simplified intermediately prognostic higher-order turbulence closure (IPHOC) is implemented in the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5 (CAM5), to provide a consistent treatment of subgrid-scale cloud processes, except for deep convection. The planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is prognosticated to better resolve the discontinuity of temperature and moisture above the PBL top. Singlecolumn model tests show that fluxes of liquid water potential temperature and total water, cloud fraction, and liquid water content are improved with this approach. The simplified IPHOC package replaces the boundary layer dry and moist turbulence parameterizations, the shallow convection parameterization, and the liquid-phase part of the cloud macrophysics parameterization in CAM5. CAM5-IPHOC improves the simulation of the low-level clouds off the west coasts of continents and the storm track region in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). The transition from stratocumulus to cumulus clouds is more gradual. There are also improvements on the cloud radiative forcing, especially shortwave, in the subsidence regime. The improvements in the relationships among low cloud amount, surface relative humidity, lower tropospheric stability, and PBL depth are seen in some stratocumulus regions. CAM5-IPHOC, however, produces weaker precipitation at the South Pacific convergence zone than CAM5 because of less energy flux into the SH atmosphere. The more downward surface shortwave radiative cooling and the less top-of-theatmosphere longwave cloud radiative heating in the SH relative to the Northern Hemisphere explains the anomalous cooling and the lesser energy flux into the SH, which is related to the underestimate of extratropical middle/high clouds in the SH.

Research Organization:
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0005450; SC0008779
OSTI ID:
1226801
Report Number(s):
Reprint
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Vol. 28, Issue 14; ISSN 0894-8755
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 28 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (6)

The Impact of Variable Land‐Atmosphere Coupling on Convective Cloud Populations Observed During the 2016 HI‐SCALE Field Campaign journal August 2019
A Cloud Top Radiative Cooling Model Coupled With CLUBB in the Community Atmosphere Model: Description and Simulation of Low Clouds journal April 2019
Quantify contribution of aerosol errors to cloud fraction biases in CMIP5 Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project simulations journal March 2018
Accounting for Vertical Subgrid‐Scale Heterogeneity in Low‐Level Cloud Fraction Parameterizations journal November 2018
Understanding the Moisture Variance in Precipitating Shallow Cumulus Convection journal January 2020
The path to CAM6: coupled simulations with CAM5.4 and CAM5.5 journal January 2018

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58 GEOSCIENCES
Climate modeling
higher-order turbulence closure
low clouds