Regional Climate Modeling over the Maritime Continent. Part I: New Parameterization for Convective Cloud Fraction
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Gianotti-2014-Regional Climate Mod.pdf
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Author(s)
Gianotti, Rebecca Louise
Eltahir, Elfatih A. B.
Date Issued
February 2014
Journal
Journal of Climate
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Citation
Gianotti, Rebecca L., and Elfatih A. B. Eltahir. “Regional Climate Modeling over the Maritime Continent. Part I: New Parameterization for Convective Cloud Fraction.” J. Climate 27, no. 4 (February 2014): 1488–1503. © 2014 American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
This paper describes a new method for parameterizing convective cloud fraction that can be used within large-scale climate models, and evaluates the new method using the Regional Climate Model, version 3 (RegCM3), coupled to the land surface scheme Integrated Biosphere Simulator (IBIS). The horizontal extent of convective cloud cover is calculated by utilizing a relationship between the simulated amount of convective cloud water and typical observations of convective cloud water density. This formulation not only provides a physically meaningful basis for the simulation of convective cloud cover, but it is also spatially and temporally variable and independent of model resolution, rendering it generally applicable for large-scale climate models. Simulations over the Maritime Continent show that the new method allows for simulation of an essential convective–radiative feedback, which was absent in the existing version of RegCM3–IBIS, such that moist convection not only responds to diurnal variability at the earth’s surface but also impacts the solar radiation received at the surface via cumulus cloud production. The impact on model performance was mixed, but it is considered that appropriate representation of the convective–radiative feedback and improved physical realism resulting from the new cloud fraction parameterization will likely have positive benefits elsewhere. The role of convective rainfall production in the convective–radiative feedback and a new parameterization for convective autoconversion are addressed in Part II of this paper series.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Parsons Laboratory for Environmental Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-13-00127.1
