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Title: Statistically Steady State Large-Eddy Simulations Forced by an Idealized GCM: 1. Forcing Framework and Simulation Characteristics

Journal Article · · Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]
  1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)
  4. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering and Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Using large-eddy simulations (LES) systematically has the potential to inform parameterizations of subgrid-scale (SGS) processes in general circulation models (GCMs), such as turbulence, convection, and clouds. Here we show how LES can be run to emulate grid columns of GCMs to generate a library of LES across a cross-section of dynamical regimes. The LES setup replicates the thermodynamic and water budgets in GCM grid columns. Resolved horizontal and vertical transports of heat and water and large-scale pressure gradients from the GCM are prescribed as forcing in the LES. The LES satisfies the same (slab-ocean) surface boundary conditions as the GCM, leaving the LES temperatures free to adjust. Radiative transfer is treated in a unied but highly idealized manner (a semi-gray atmosphere without cloud radiative effects) in both the GCM and LES. We show that the LES with these forcing and boundary conditions reaches statistically steady states without nudging to reference profiles. These steady states provide a training dataset for developing GCM parameterizations. The same LES setup also provides a good basis for studying the cloud response to global warming.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Charles Trimble; EarthRise Alliance; Eric and Wendy Schmidt; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Mountain Philanthropies; National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); Paul G. Allen Family Foundation; USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1605554
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--144935
Journal Information:
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Journal Name: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 12; ISSN 1942-2466
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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