DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Parametric behaviors of CLUBB in simulations of low clouds in the C ommunity A tmosphere M odel ( CAM )

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the sensitivity of simulated low clouds to 14 selected tunable parameters of Cloud Layers Unified By Binormals (CLUBB), a higher order closure (HOC) scheme, and 4 parameters of the Zhang-McFarlane (ZM) deep convection scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). A quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) sampling approach is adopted to effectively explore the high-dimensional parameter space and a generalized linear model is applied to study the responses of simulated cloud fields to tunable parameters. Our results show that the variance in simulated low-cloud properties (cloud fraction and liquid water path) can be explained by the selected tunable parameters in two different ways: macrophysics itself and its interaction with microphysics. First, the parameters related to dynamic and thermodynamic turbulent structure and double Gaussians closure are found to be the most influential parameters for simulating low clouds. The spatial distributions of the parameter contributions show clear cloud-regime dependence. Second, because of the coupling between cloud macrophysics and cloud microphysics, the coefficient of the dissipation term in the total water variance equation is influential. This parameter affects the variance of in-cloud cloud water, which further influences microphysical process rates, such as autoconversion, and eventually low-cloud fraction. Furthermore,more » this study improves understanding of HOC behavior associated with parameter uncertainties and provides valuable insights for the interaction of macrophysics and microphysics.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [5];  [5];  [6]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA, State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China, Climate Change Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University Nanjing China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change Jiangsu Province China
  2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University Nanjing China, Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change Jiangsu Province China
  3. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA
  4. University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee, Milwaukee Wisconsin USA
  5. National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado USA
  6. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1402218
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1244807; OSTI ID: 1785819
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-106629
Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Guo, Zhun, Wang, Minghuai, Qian, Yun, Larson, Vincent E., Ghan, Steven, Ovchinnikov, Mikhail, A. Bogenschutz, Peter, Gettelman, Andrew, and Zhou, Tianjun. Parametric behaviors of CLUBB in simulations of low clouds in the C ommunity A tmosphere M odel ( CAM ). United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1002/2014MS000405.
Guo, Zhun, Wang, Minghuai, Qian, Yun, Larson, Vincent E., Ghan, Steven, Ovchinnikov, Mikhail, A. Bogenschutz, Peter, Gettelman, Andrew, & Zhou, Tianjun. Parametric behaviors of CLUBB in simulations of low clouds in the C ommunity A tmosphere M odel ( CAM ). United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014MS000405
Guo, Zhun, Wang, Minghuai, Qian, Yun, Larson, Vincent E., Ghan, Steven, Ovchinnikov, Mikhail, A. Bogenschutz, Peter, Gettelman, Andrew, and Zhou, Tianjun. Fri . "Parametric behaviors of CLUBB in simulations of low clouds in the C ommunity A tmosphere M odel ( CAM )". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014MS000405.
@article{osti_1402218,
title = {Parametric behaviors of CLUBB in simulations of low clouds in the C ommunity A tmosphere M odel ( CAM )},
author = {Guo, Zhun and Wang, Minghuai and Qian, Yun and Larson, Vincent E. and Ghan, Steven and Ovchinnikov, Mikhail and A. Bogenschutz, Peter and Gettelman, Andrew and Zhou, Tianjun},
abstractNote = {In this study, we investigate the sensitivity of simulated low clouds to 14 selected tunable parameters of Cloud Layers Unified By Binormals (CLUBB), a higher order closure (HOC) scheme, and 4 parameters of the Zhang-McFarlane (ZM) deep convection scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). A quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) sampling approach is adopted to effectively explore the high-dimensional parameter space and a generalized linear model is applied to study the responses of simulated cloud fields to tunable parameters. Our results show that the variance in simulated low-cloud properties (cloud fraction and liquid water path) can be explained by the selected tunable parameters in two different ways: macrophysics itself and its interaction with microphysics. First, the parameters related to dynamic and thermodynamic turbulent structure and double Gaussians closure are found to be the most influential parameters for simulating low clouds. The spatial distributions of the parameter contributions show clear cloud-regime dependence. Second, because of the coupling between cloud macrophysics and cloud microphysics, the coefficient of the dissipation term in the total water variance equation is influential. This parameter affects the variance of in-cloud cloud water, which further influences microphysical process rates, such as autoconversion, and eventually low-cloud fraction. Furthermore, this study improves understanding of HOC behavior associated with parameter uncertainties and provides valuable insights for the interaction of macrophysics and microphysics.},
doi = {10.1002/2014MS000405},
journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
number = 3,
volume = 7,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Jul 03 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/2014MS000405

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Elucidating Model Inadequacies in a Cloud Parameterization by Use of an Ensemble-Based Calibration Framework
journal, December 2007

  • Golaz, Jean-Christophe; Larson, Vincent E.; Hansen, James A.
  • Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 135, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1175/2007MWR2008.1

Marine boundary layer clouds at the heart of tropical cloud feedback uncertainties in climate models
journal, January 2005


Simulation of shallow cumuli and their transition to deep convective clouds by cloud-resolving models with different third-order turbulence closures
journal, January 2006

  • Cheng, Anning; Xu, Kuan-Man
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 132, Issue 615
  • DOI: 10.1256/qj.05.29

Multivariate Probability Density Functions with Dynamics in the GFDL Atmospheric General Circulation Model: Global Tests
journal, March 2014


Revealing differences in GCM representations of low clouds
journal, November 2009


A Physical Mechanism for the Asymmetry in Top-Down and Bottom-Up Diffusion
journal, April 1987


Higher-Order Turbulence Closure and Its Impact on Climate Simulations in the Community Atmosphere Model
journal, December 2013

  • Bogenschutz, Peter A.; Gettelman, Andrew; Morrison, Hugh
  • Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 23
  • DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00075.1

A sensitivity analysis of cloud properties to CLUBB parameters in the single-column Community Atmosphere Model (SCAM5)
journal, August 2014

  • Guo, Zhun; Wang, Minghuai; Qian, Yun
  • Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 6, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014MS000315

A PDF-Based Model for Boundary Layer Clouds. Part I: Method and Model Description
journal, December 2002


PDF Parameterization of Boundary Layer Clouds in Models with Horizontal Grid Spacings from 2 to 16 km
journal, January 2012

  • Larson, Vincent E.; Schanen, David P.; Wang, Minghuai
  • Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 140, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-10-05059.1

A Second-Order Bulk Boundary-Layer Model
journal, October 1992


Stratocumulus Clouds
journal, August 2012


Improved Low-Cloud Simulation from the Community Atmosphere Model with an Advanced Third-Order Turbulence Closure
journal, July 2015


Monte Carlo and quasi-Monte Carlo methods
journal, January 1998


Toward Optimal Closure of the Earth's Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget
journal, February 2009

  • Loeb, Norman G.; Wielicki, Bruce A.; Doelling, David R.
  • Journal of Climate, Vol. 22, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1175/2008JCLI2637.1

Global simulations of ice nucleation and ice supersaturation with an improved cloud scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model
journal, January 2010

  • Gettelman, A.; Liu, X.; Ghan, S. J.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 115, Issue D18
  • DOI: 10.1029/2009JD013797

A Model for the Turbulent Structure of the Stratocumulus–Topped Atmospheric Boundary Layer
journal, January 1987


The Gaussian Cloud Model Relations
journal, February 1977


Small-Scale and Mesoscale Variability in Cloudy Boundary Layers: Joint Probability Density Functions
journal, December 2002


Improved low-cloud simulation from a multiscale modeling framework with a third-order turbulence closure in its cloud-resolving model component
journal, January 2011

  • Cheng, Anning; Xu, Kuan-Man
  • Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, Issue D14
  • DOI: 10.1029/2010JD015362

Using Probability Density Functions to Derive Consistent Closure Relationships among Higher-Order Moments
journal, April 2005

  • Larson, Vincent E.; Golaz, Jean-Christophe
  • Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 133, Issue 4
  • DOI: 10.1175/MWR2902.1

Parametric sensitivity analysis of precipitation at global and local scales in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5
journal, April 2015

  • Qian, Yun; Yan, Huiping; Hou, Zhangshuan
  • Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 7, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014MS000354

A multiscale modeling framework model (superparameterized CAM5) with a higher‐order turbulence closure: Model description and low‐cloud simulations
journal, April 2015

  • Wang, Minghuai; Larson, Vincent E.; Ghan, Steven
  • Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 7, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014MS000375