scholarly journals A comparison of cloud-resolving model simulations of trade wind cumulus with aircraft observations taken during RICO by S. J. Abel and B. J. Shipway.Quarterly Journal of the Meteorogical Society, 2007; 133: 781–794

2007 ◽  
Vol 133 (626) ◽  
pp. 1343-1343
Keyword(s):  
Trade Wind ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model

scholarly journals tobac 1.2: towards a flexible framework for tracking and analysis of clouds in diverse datasets

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4551-4570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Heikenfeld ◽  
Peter J. Marinescu ◽  
Matthew Christensen ◽  
Duncan Watson-Parris ◽  
Fabian Senf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Geostationary Satellite ◽  
Model Assessment ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model ◽  
High Level

Abstract. We introduce tobac (Tracking and Object-Based Analysis of Clouds), a newly developed framework for tracking and analysing individual clouds in different types of datasets, such as cloud-resolving model simulations and geostationary satellite retrievals. The software has been designed to be used flexibly with any two- or three-dimensional time-varying input. The application of high-level data formats, such as Iris cubes or xarray arrays, for input and output allows for convenient use of metadata in the tracking analysis and visualisation. Comprehensive analysis routines are provided to derive properties like cloud lifetimes or statistics of cloud properties along with tools to visualise the results in a convenient way. The application of tobac is presented in two examples. We first track and analyse scattered deep convective cells based on maximum vertical velocity and the three-dimensional condensate mixing ratio field in cloud-resolving model simulations. We also investigate the performance of the tracking algorithm for different choices of time resolution of the model output. In the second application, we show how the framework can be used to effectively combine information from two different types of datasets by simultaneously tracking convective clouds in model simulations and in geostationary satellite images based on outgoing longwave radiation. The tobac framework provides a flexible new way to include the evolution of the characteristics of individual clouds in a range of important analyses like model intercomparison studies or model assessment based on observational data.

scholarly journals Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations of KWAJEX: Model Sensitivities and Comparisons with Satellite and Radar Observations

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 1488-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter N. Blossey ◽  
Christopher S. Bretherton ◽  
Jasmine Cetrone ◽  
Marat Kharoutdinov
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiative Fluxes ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Ground Validation ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model ◽  
Sensitivity Studies ◽  
Upper Level

Abstract Three-dimensional cloud-resolving model simulations of a mesoscale region around Kwajalein Island during the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX) are performed. Using observed winds along with surface and large-scale thermodynamic forcings, the model tracks the observed mean thermodynamic soundings without thermodynamic nudging during 52-day simulations spanning the whole experiment time period, 24 July–14 September 1999. Detailed comparisons of the results with cloud and precipitation observations, including radar reflectivities from the Kwajalein ground validation radar and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud amounts and radiative fluxes, reveal the biases and sensitivities of the model’s simulated clouds. The amount and optical depth of high cloud are underpredicted by the model during less rainy periods, leading to excessive outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and insufficient albedo. The simulated radar reflectivities tend to be excessive, especially in the upper troposphere, suggesting that simulated high clouds are precipitating large hydrometeors too efficiently. Occasionally, large-scale advective forcing errors also seem to contribute to upper-level cloud and relative humidity biases. An extensive suite of sensitivity studies to different microphysical and radiative parameterizations is performed, with surprisingly little impact on the results in most cases.

scholarly journals Statistical properties of cloud lifecycles in cloud-resolving models

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 2195-2205 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Plant
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Properties ◽  
New Technique ◽  
Average Lifetime ◽  
Cumulus Clouds ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model ◽  
Time Histories ◽  
A New Technique

Abstract. A new technique is described for the analysis of cloud-resolving model simulations, which allows one to investigate the statistics of the lifecycles of cumulus clouds. Clouds are tracked from timestep to timestep within the model run. This allows for a very simple method of tracking, but one which is both comprehensive and robust. An approach for handling cloud splits and mergers is described which allows clouds with simple and complicated time histories to be compared within a single framework. This is found to be important for the analysis of an idealized simulation of radiative-convective equilibrium, in which the moist, buoyant updrafts (i.e., the convective cores) were tracked. Around half of all such cores were subject to splits and mergers during their lifecycles. For cores without any such events, the average lifetime is 30 min, but events can lengthen the typical lifetime considerably.

scholarly journals Impact of Cloud-Nucleating Aerosols in Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations of Warm-Rain Precipitation in the East China Sea

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (12) ◽  
pp. 3916-3930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Saleeby ◽  
Wesley Berg ◽  
Susan van den Heever ◽  
Tristan L’Ecuyer
Keyword(s):  
East China Sea ◽  
East China ◽  
The East China Sea ◽  
Frontal Passage ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Aerosol Loading ◽  
Warm Rain ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model ◽  
Precipitation Estimates

Abstract Cloud-nucleating aerosols emitted from mainland China have the potential to influence cloud and precipitation systems that propagate through the region of the East China Sea. Both simulations from the Spectral Radiation-Transport Model for Aerosol Species (SPRINTARS) and observations from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) reveal plumes of pollution that are transported into the East China Sea via frontal passage or other offshore flow. Under such conditions, satellite-derived precipitation estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) frequently produce discrepancies in rainfall estimates that are hypothesized to be a result of aerosol modification of cloud and raindrop size distributions. Cloud-resolving model simulations were used to explore the impact of aerosol loading on three identified frontal-passage events in which the TMI and PR precipitation estimates displayed large discrepancies. Each of these events was characterized by convective and stratiform elements in association with a frontal passage. Area-averaged time series for each event reveal similar monotonic cloud and rain microphysical responses to aerosol loading. The ratio in the vertical distribution of cloud water to rainwater increased. Cloud droplet concentration increased and the mean diameters decreased, thereby reducing droplet autoconversion and collision–coalescence growth. As a result, raindrop concentration decreased, while the drop mean diameter increased; furthermore, average rainwater path magnitude and area fraction both decreased. The average precipitation rate fields reveal a complex modification of the timing and spatial coverage of rainfall. This suggests that the warm-rain microphysical response to aerosols, in addition to the precipitation life cycle, microphysical feedbacks, and evaporative effects, play an important role in determining surface rainfall.

scholarly journals Statistical Validation of a Cloud Resolving Model Using Aircraft Observations of Orographic Snow Clouds

2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideaki OHTAKE ◽  
Masataka MURAKAMI ◽  
Narihiro ORIKASA ◽  
Akihiro HASHIMOTO ◽  
Atsushi SAITO ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Validation ◽  
Aircraft Observations ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model

scholarly journals Cloud-resolving-model simulations of nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayan slopes and foothills

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiori Sugimoto ◽  
Kenichi Ueno ◽  
Hatsuki Fujinami ◽  
Tomoe Nasuno ◽  
Tomonori Sato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Transport ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Synoptic Scale ◽  
Reanalysis Dataset ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Lower Elevation ◽  
Circulation Patterns ◽  
Downslope Wind ◽  
Cloud Resolving Model

AbstractA numerical experiment with a 2-km resolution was conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate physical processes driving nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas during the mature monsoon seasons between 2003 and 2010. The WRF model simulations of increases in precipitation twice a day, one in the afternoon and another around midnight, over the Himalayan slopes, and of the single nocturnal peak over the Himalayan foothills were reasonably accurate. To understand the synoptic-scale moisture transport and its local-scale convergence generating the nocturnal precipitation, composite analyses were conducted using the reanalysis dataset and model outputs. In the synoptic scale, moisture transport associated with the westward propagation of low pressure systems was found when nocturnal precipitation dominated over the Himalayan slopes. In contrast, moisture was directly provided from the synoptic-scale monsoon westerlies for nocturnal precipitation over the foothills. The model outputs suggested that precipitation occurred on the mountain ridges in the Himalayas during the afternoon, and expanded horizontally towards lower-elevation areas through the night. During the nighttime, the downslope wind was caused by radiative cooling at the surface and was intensified by evaporative cooling by hydrometeors in the near-surface layer. As a result, convergence between the downslope wind and the synoptic-scale flow promoted nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas and to the south, as well as the moisture convergence by orography and/or synoptic-scale circulation patterns. The nocturnal precipitation over the Himalayas was not simulated well when we used the coarse topographic resolution and the smaller number of vertical layers.

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