Comparison of Four Cloud Schemes in Simulating the Seasonal Mean Field Forced by the Observed Sea Surface Temperature

The impacts of four stratiform cloud parameterizations on seasonal mean fields are investigated using the global version of the Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) global-to-regional forecast system (G-RSM). The simulated fields are compared with the International Satellite Cloud Climatolo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly weather review 2008-07, Vol.136 (7), p.2557-2575
Main Authors: SHIMPO, Akihiko, KANAMITSU, Masao, IACOBELLIS, Sam F, HONG, Song-You
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmosphere
Atmospheric models
Boundary layers
Climate prediction
Climatology
Clouds
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Hydrologic data
Marine
Meteorology
Relative humidity
Sea surface temperature
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Summary:The impacts of four stratiform cloud parameterizations on seasonal mean fields are investigated using the global version of the Experimental Climate Prediction Center (ECPC) global-to-regional forecast system (G-RSM). The simulated fields are compared with the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) data for clouds, the Global Precipitation Climatology Project data for precipitation, the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment and the Surface Radiation Budget data for radiation, and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP-II) Reanalysis (R-2) for temperature. Compared to observations, no stratiform cloud parameterization performed better in simulating all aspects of clouds, temperature, precipitation, and radiation fluxes. There are strong interactions between parameterized stratiform clouds and boundary layer clouds and convection, resulting in changes in low-level cloudiness and precipitation in the simulations. When the simulations are compared with ISCCP cloudiness and cloud water, and the NCEP/DOE R-2 relative humidity, the cloud amounts simulated by all four cloud schemes depend mostly on relative humidity with less dependency on the model’s cloud water, while the observed cloud amount is more strongly dependent on cloud water than relative humidity, suggesting that cloud parameterizations and the simulation of cloud water require further improvement.
ISSN:0027-0644
1520-0493
DOI:10.1175/2007mwr2179.1