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Title: Calibration of a convective parameterization scheme in the WRF model and its impact on the simulation of East Asian summer monsoon precipitation

Journal Article · · Climate Dynamics
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Nanjing Univ., Nanjing (China)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lanzhou Univ., Lanzhou (China)
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Reasonably modeling the magnitude, south-north gradient and seasonal propagation of precipitation associated with the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) is a challenging task in the climate community. In this study we calibrate five key parameters in the Kain-Fritsch convection scheme in the WRF model using an efficient importance-sampling algorithm to improve the EASM simulation. We also examine the impacts of the improved EASM precipitation on other physical process. Our results suggest similar model sensitivity and values of optimized parameters across years with different EASM intensities. By applying the optimal parameters, the simulated precipitation and surface energy features are generally improved. The parameters related to downdraft, entrainment coefficients and CAPE consumption time (CCT) can most sensitively affect the precipitation and atmospheric features. Larger downdraft coefficient or CCT decrease the heavy rainfall frequency, while larger entrainment coefficient delays the convection development but build up more potential for heavy rainfall events, causing a possible northward shift of rainfall distribution. The CCT is the most sensitive parameter over wet region and the downdraft parameter plays more important roles over drier northern region. Long-term simulations confirm that by using the optimized parameters the precipitation distributions are better simulated in both weak and strong EASM years. Due to more reasonable simulated precipitation condensational heating, the monsoon circulations are also improved. Lastly, by using the optimized parameters the biases in the retreating (beginning) of Mei-yu (northern China rainfall) simulated by the standard WRF model are evidently reduced and the seasonal and sub-seasonal variations of the monsoon precipitation are remarkably improved.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1194289
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-101192; KP1703010
Journal Information:
Climate Dynamics, Vol. 44, Issue 5-6; ISSN 0930-7575
Publisher:
Springer-VerlagCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 38 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

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Modification of Near‐Surface Temperature Over East Asia Associated With Local‐Scale Paddy Irrigation journal March 2019
Development and Evaluation of a WRF-Based Mesoscale Numerical Weather Prediction System in Northwestern China journal June 2019
Investigating the mechanisms of diurnal rainfall variability over Peninsular Malaysia using the non-hydrostatic regional climate model journal July 2017
Simulated precipitation diurnal cycles over East Asia using different CAPE-based convective closure schemes in WRF model journal May 2017

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
convective parameterization
WRF model
simulation
East Asian Summer Monsoon precipitation
EASM
precipitation
parameter calibration