Process-oriented evaluation using ARM observations to improve clouds and radiation in a global atmospheric model
- European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast, Reading (United Kingdom)
The goal of the research is to improve understanding of cloud, radiation and precipitation processes and their representation in numerical models for weather and climate using observations from the ARM/ASR program. Global models need to represent all cloud types across different weather regimes from the tropics to the poles and ARM provides long-term observations at different geographical sites that cover these different regimes. Combined with satellite data to give a global context, the observations are used to evaluate the systematic errors in a global model for predictions of cloud, radiation and precipitation. The focus is on understanding the links to underlying physical processes to pinpoint the sources of error and improve the model representation of these processes. The research covers boundary layer cloud over the continental U.S., marine stratocumulus and shallow cumulus in the subtropics, mixed-phase clouds over the Arctic and Southern Ocean, and high-altitude cirrus ice clouds in the tropics. The model used is the operational global weather prediction system at the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The research has led to numerous developments, several of which have been implemented operationally leading to improvements in everyday forecasts. Many of the systematic errors are common across different modelling systems and the wider implications from the research for other weather and climate models are highlighted.
- Research Organization:
- European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast, Reading (United Kingdom)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0005259
- OSTI ID:
- 1572091
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-ECMWF-0005259
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English