Evaluation of NCAR CAM5 simulated marine boundary layer cloud properties using a combination of satellite and surface observations
- Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States). Dept. of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds are a strong modulator of Earth’s radiative energy budget. The feedback of MBL clouds in a changing climate remains one of the largest uncertainties in our understanding of climate sensitivity, and recent studies have also suggested that radiative feedbacks related to MBL clouds may play an important role in low-frequency climate variabilities such as the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Despite their importance in the climate system, simulating MBL clouds in Earth system models (ESMs) has proved to be extremely challenging. The overarching objective of this proposal is to evaluate the MBL cloud simulation skills of the CAM5 with different cloud parameterization schemes through systematic comparison with both ground- and satellite based cloud observations. In particular, we seek to understand the advantages and limitations of the newly developed subgrid cloud parameterization scheme CLUBB (Cloud Layers Unified By Binormals) for simulation MBL clouds through comparisons of CAM5-CLUBB simulations with ARM (CAP-MBL campaign data) and satellite observations, as well as the “conventional” CAM5 and a CAM5 with the so-called super-parameterization (i.e., CAM5-MMF). In the rest of this report, we will briefly highlight our major research achievements.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0014641
- OSTI ID:
- 1569736
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UMBC-SC0014641; TRN: US2000051
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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