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Title: COSP: Satellite simulation software for model assessment

Journal Article · · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1]
  1. Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom)
  2. Pierre and Marie Curie Univ., Paris (France). National Center for Scientific Research
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison
  4. Univ. of Washingo. Joint Inst. for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean
  5. Monash Univ., Melbourne, VIC (Australia). School of Mathematical Sciences
  6. Univ. of Colorado and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States)
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Errors in the simulation of clouds in general circulation models (GCMs) remain a long-standing issue in climate projections, as discussed in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. This highlights the need for developing new analysis techniques to improve our knowledge of the physical processes at the root of these errors. The Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP) pursues this objective, and under that framework the CFMIP Observation Simulator Package (COSP) has been developed. COSP is a flexible software tool that enables the simulation of several satellite-borne active and passive sensor observations from model variables. The flexibility of COSP and a common interface for all sensors facilitates its use in any type of numerical model, from high-resolution cloud-resolving models to the coarser-resolution GCMs assessed by the IPCC, and the scales in between used in weather forecast and regional models. The diversity of model parameterization techniques makes the comparison between model and observations difficult, as some parameterized variables (e.g., cloud fraction) do not have the same meaning in all models. The approach followed in COSP permits models to be evaluated against observations and compared against each other in a more consistent manner. This thus permits a more detailed diagnosis of the physical processes that govern the behavior of clouds and precipitation in numerical models. The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) Working Group on Coupled Modelling has recommended the use of COSP in a subset of climate experiments that will be assessed by the next IPCC report. Here we describe COSP, present some results from its application to numerical models, and discuss future work that will expand its capabilities.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1377781
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-459955
Journal Information:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 92, Issue 8; ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 412 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Cited By (95)

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Using Space Lidar Observations to Decompose Longwave Cloud Radiative Effect Variations Over the Last Decade: Space lidar decomposes LWCRE variations journal December 2017
Regional Regime-Based Evaluation of Present-Day General Circulation Model Cloud Simulations Using Self-Organizing Maps journal April 2018
Geographically versus dynamically defined boundary layer cloud regimes and their use to evaluate general circulation model cloud parameterizations journal September 2013
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Are climate model simulations of clouds improving? An evaluation using the ISCCP simulator: EVALUATING CLOUDS IN CLIMATE MODELS journal February 2013
Characterizing and understanding radiation budget biases in CMIP3/CMIP5 GCMs, contemporary GCM, and reanalysis: RADIATION BUDGET BIASES IN CMIP3/CMIP5 journal August 2013
Evaluating cloud microphysics from NICAM against CloudSat and CALIPSO: EVALUATING CLOUDS SIMULATED BY NICAM journal July 2013
Comparative study of five current reanalyses in characterizing total cloud fraction and top-of-the-atmosphere cloud radiative effects over the Asian monsoon region: CLOUD FRACTION AND CLOUD RADIATIVE EFFECTS IN FIVE CURRENT REANALYSES journal May 2017
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Understanding the ACCESS model errors over the Maritime Continent using CloudSat and CALIPSO simulators: ACCESS Model Errors over the Maritime Continent
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Climate Models as Guidance for the Design of Observing Systems: the Case of Polar Climate and Sea Ice Prediction journal November 2019
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Subtropical Marine Low Stratiform Cloud Deck Spatial Errors in the E3SMv1 Atmosphere Model journal November 2019
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Inter-Comparison and Evaluation of the Four Longest Satellite-Derived Cloud Climate Data Records: CLARA-A2, ESA Cloud CCI V3, ISCCP-HGM, and PATMOS-x journal October 2018
A Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer HDO/H2O retrieval simulator for climate models journal January 2012
Satellite observations of cirrus clouds in the Northern Hemisphere lowermost stratosphere journal January 2015
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Dynamic subgrid heterogeneity of convective cloud in a global model: description and evaluation of the Convective Cloud Field Model (CCFM) in ECHAM6–HAM2 journal January 2017
CLARA-A2: the second edition of the CM SAF cloud and radiation data record from 34 years of global AVHRR data journal January 2017
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Comparing ERA-Interim clouds with satellite observations using a simplified satellite simulator journal January 2018
Tropical convection regimes in climate models: evaluation with satellite observations journal January 2018
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The importance of mixed-phase and ice clouds for climate sensitivity in the global aerosol–climate model ECHAM6-HAM2 journal January 2018
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Evaluating models' response of tropical low clouds to SST forcings using CALIPSO observations journal January 2019
The impact of orbital sampling, monthly averaging and vertical resolution on climate chemistry model evaluation with satellite observations journal January 2011
Characterization of AVHRR global cloud detection sensitivity based on CALIPSO-CALIOP cloud optical thickness information: demonstration of results based on the CM SAF CLARA-A2 climate data record journal January 2018
Remote sensing of cloud top pressure/height from SEVIRI: analysis of ten current retrieval algorithms journal January 2014
Towards improved and more routine Earth system model evaluation in CMIP journal January 2016
A multi-diagnostic approach to cloud evaluation journal January 2017
The Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project (CFMIP) contribution to CMIP6 journal January 2017
An update on the RTTOV fast radiative transfer model (currently at version 12) journal January 2018
The importance of considering sub-grid cloud variability when using satellite observations to evaluate the cloud and precipitation simulations in climate models journal January 2018
The Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project Observational Simulator Package: Version 2 journal January 2018
Regionally refined test bed in E3SM atmosphere model version 1 (EAMv1) and applications for high-resolution modeling journal January 2019
The global aerosol–climate model ECHAM6.3–HAM2.3 – Part 2: Cloud evaluation, aerosol radiative forcing, and climate sensitivity journal January 2019
Incorporation of inline warm rain diagnostics into the COSP2 satellite simulator for process-oriented model evaluation journal January 2019
The Cloud_cci simulator v1.0 for the Cloud_cci climate data record and its application to a global and a regional climate model journal January 2019
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  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 144, Issue 715 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3318
journal July 2018
An observationally based evaluation of cloud ice water in CMIP3 and CMIP5 GCMs and contemporary reanalyses using contemporary satellite data: CMIP3, CMIP5, IWC, CloudSat, GCM journal August 2012
Evaluation of boundary layer cloud parameterizations in the ECHAM5 general circulation model using CALIPSO and CloudSat satellite data text January 2014
Taking climate model evaluation to the next level text January 2019
Changes in clouds and thermodynamics under solar geoengineering and implications for required solar reduction journal January 2018
Elucidating ice formation pathways in the aerosol–climate model ECHAM6-HAM2 journal January 2019
Dynamic sub-grid heterogeneity of convective cloud in a global model: Description and Evaluation of the Convective Cloud Field Model (CCFM) in ECHAM6–HAM2 journal July 2016
Comparing ERA-Interim clouds with satellite observations using a simplified satellite simulator posted_content May 2018
A Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer HDO/H2O retrieval simulator for climate models posted_content June 2012
Satellite observations of cirrus clouds in the Northern Hemisphere lowermost stratosphere posted_content May 2014
Remote sensing of cloud top pressure/height from SEVIRI: analysis of ten current retrieval algorithms posted_content January 2014
A simulator for the CLARA-A2 cloud climate data record and its application to assess EC-Earth polar cloudiness posted_content May 2020
An update on the RTTOV fast radiative transfer model (currently at version 12) posted_content March 2018
Development of two-moment cloud microphysics for liquid and ice within the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model (GEOS-5) journal January 2014
The Met Office Global Coupled model 2.0 (GC2) configuration journal January 2015
The importance of considering sub-grid cloud variability when using satellite observations to evaluate the cloud and precipitation simulations in climate models collection January 2018
The global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3-Part 2: Cloud evaluation, aerosol radiative forcing, and climate sensitivity text January 2019
A multi-diagnostic approach to cloud evaluation posted_content January 2017
Climate Models as Guidance for the Design of Observing Systems - The case of Polar Climate and Sea Ice Prediction text January 2020
A simulator for the CLARA-A2 cloud climate data record and its application to assess EC-Earth polar cloudiness posted_content August 2019
Effective radiative forcing in the aerosol-climate model CAM5.3-MARC-ARG text January 2018
The impact of orbital sampling, monthly averaging and vertical resolution on climate chemistry model evaluation with satellite observations journal January 2011
Numerical framework and performance of the new multiple phase cloud microphysics scheme in RegCM4.5: precipitation, cloud microphysics and cloud radiative effects. posted_content March 2016

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