Precipitation Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model and Their Dependence on Model Physics and Resolution
Abstract
Precipitation amount (A), frequency (F), intensity (I), and duration (D) are important properties of precipitation, but their estimates are sensitive to data resolution. This study investigates this resolution dependence, and the influences of different model physics, by analyzing simulations by the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM) version 4 (CAM4) and version 5 (CAM5) with varying grid sizes from ~0.25 to 2.0°. Results show that both CAM4 and CAM5 greatly overestimate F and D but underestimate I at all resolutions, despite realistic A. These biases partly result from too much parameterized (convective) precipitation with high F and D but low I. Different cloud microphysics schemes contribute to the precipitation differences between CAM4 and CAM5. The A, F, I, and D of convective and nonconvective precipitation react differently to grid-size decreases, leading to the large decreases in F and D but increases in the I for total precipitation as model resolution increases. This resolution dependence results from the increased probability of precipitation over a larger area (area aggregation effect, which is smaller than in observations) and the varying performance of model physics under changing resolution (model adjustment effect), which roughly enhances the aggregation-induced dependence. Finer grid sizes not only increase resolved precipitation, whichmore »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1]
- Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University at AlbanyState University of New York Albany NY USA
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Albany, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1560193
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1560194; OSTI ID: 1611898
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012602; AGS-1353740; OISE-1743738
- 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: 11 Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1942-2466
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Citation Formats
Chen, Di, and Dai, Aiguo. Precipitation Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model and Their Dependence on Model Physics and Resolution. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1029/2018MS001536.
Chen, Di, & Dai, Aiguo. Precipitation Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model and Their Dependence on Model Physics and Resolution. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001536
Chen, Di, and Dai, Aiguo. Wed .
"Precipitation Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model and Their Dependence on Model Physics and Resolution". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001536.
@article{osti_1560193,
title = {Precipitation Characteristics in the Community Atmosphere Model and Their Dependence on Model Physics and Resolution},
author = {Chen, Di and Dai, Aiguo},
abstractNote = {Precipitation amount (A), frequency (F), intensity (I), and duration (D) are important properties of precipitation, but their estimates are sensitive to data resolution. This study investigates this resolution dependence, and the influences of different model physics, by analyzing simulations by the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM) version 4 (CAM4) and version 5 (CAM5) with varying grid sizes from ~0.25 to 2.0°. Results show that both CAM4 and CAM5 greatly overestimate F and D but underestimate I at all resolutions, despite realistic A. These biases partly result from too much parameterized (convective) precipitation with high F and D but low I. Different cloud microphysics schemes contribute to the precipitation differences between CAM4 and CAM5. The A, F, I, and D of convective and nonconvective precipitation react differently to grid-size decreases, leading to the large decreases in F and D but increases in the I for total precipitation as model resolution increases. This resolution dependence results from the increased probability of precipitation over a larger area (area aggregation effect, which is smaller than in observations) and the varying performance of model physics under changing resolution (model adjustment effect), which roughly enhances the aggregation-induced dependence. Finer grid sizes not only increase resolved precipitation, which has higher intensity and thus improves overall precipitation intensity in CAM, but also reduce the area aggregation effect. Thus, the long-standing drizzling problem in climate models may be mitigated by increasing model resolution and modifying model physics to suppress parameterized convective precipitation and enhance resolved nonconvective precipitation.},
doi = {10.1029/2018MS001536},
journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
number = 7,
volume = 11,
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {7}
}
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