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Tropical Cirrus in Global Storm-Resolving Models. Part II: Cirrus Life Cycle and Top-of-Atmosphere Radiative Fluxes

Journal Article · · Earth and Space Science
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021ea001978· OSTI ID:1837438
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean
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Cirrus clouds of various thicknesses and radiative characteristics extend over much of the tropics, especially around deep convection. They are difficult to observe due to their high altitude and sometimes small optical depths. They are also difficult to simulate in conventional global climate models, which have coarse grid spacings and simplified parameterizations of deep convection and cirrus formation. We investigate the representation of tropical cirrus in global storm-resolving models (GSRMs), which have higher spatial resolution and explicit convection and could more accurately represent cirrus cloud processes. This study uses GSRMs from the DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled On Non-hydrostatic Domains (DYAMOND) project. The aggregate life cycle of tropical cirrus is analyzed using joint albedo and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) histograms to assess the fidelity of models in capturing the observed cirrus cloud populations over representative tropical ocean and land regions. The proportions of optically-thick deep convection, anvils, and cirrus vary across models and are portrayed in the vertical distribution of cloud cover and top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes. Model differences in cirrus populations, likely driven by subgrid processes such as ice microphysics, dominate over regional differences between convectively-active tropical land and ocean locations.
Research Organization:
ARM Data Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1837438
Journal Information:
Earth and Space Science, Journal Name: Earth and Space Science Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 9; ISSN 2333-5084
Publisher:
Wiley, American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DYAMOND
cirrus
global storm-resolving models
life cycle
model comparison
tropical tropopause layer