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Title: A moist aquaplanet variant of the Held–Suarez test for atmospheric model dynamical cores

Journal Article · · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
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A moist idealized test case (MITC) for atmospheric model dynamical cores is presented. The MITC is based on the Held–Suarez (HS) test that was developed for dry simulations on “a flat Earth” and replaces the full physical parameterization package with a Newtonian temperature relaxation and Rayleigh damping of the low-level winds. This new variant of the HS test includes moisture and thereby sheds light on the nonlinear dynamics–physics moisture feedbacks without the complexity of full-physics parameterization packages. In particular, it adds simplified moist processes to the HS forcing to model large-scale condensation, boundary-layer mixing, and the exchange of latent and sensible heat between the atmospheric surface and an ocean-covered planet. Using a variety of dynamical cores of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)'s Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), this paper demonstrates that the inclusion of the moist idealized physics package leads to climatic states that closely resemble aquaplanet simulations with complex physical parameterizations. This establishes that the MITC approach generates reasonable atmospheric circulations and can be used for a broad range of scientific investigations. This paper provides examples of two application areas. First, the test case reveals the characteristics of the physics–dynamics coupling technique and reproduces coupling issues seen in full-physics simulations. In particular, it is shown that sudden adjustments of the prognostic fields due to moist physics tendencies can trigger undesirable large-scale gravity waves, which can be remedied by a more gradual application of the physical forcing. Second, the moist idealized test case can be used to intercompare dynamical cores. These examples demonstrate the versatility of the MITC approach and suggestions are made for further application areas. Furthermore, the new moist variant of the HS test can be considered a test case of intermediate complexity.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0003990; SC0006684
OSTI ID:
1245327
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1268237
Journal Information:
Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online) Vol. 9 Journal Issue: 4; ISSN 1991-9603
Publisher:
Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 19 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
aqua-planet simulations
earth system models
intermediate complexity
climate simulations
equatorial waves
finite-volume
global-models
sphere
circulation
sensitivity