scholarly journals Dynamical Effects of Convective Momentum Transports on Global Climate Simulations

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoliang Song ◽  
Xiaoqing Wu ◽  
Guang Jun Zhang ◽  
Raymond W. Arritt
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Experimental Setup ◽  
Convection Scheme ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
Geostrophic Balance ◽  
Climate Simulations

Abstract Dynamical effects of convective momentum transports (CMT) on global climate simulations are investigated using the NCAR Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3). To isolate the dynamical effects of the CMT, an experimental setup is proposed in which all physical parameterizations except for the deep convection scheme are replaced with idealized forcing. The CMT scheme is incorporated into the convection scheme to calculate the CMT forcing, which is used to force the momentum equations, while convective temperature and moisture tendencies are not passed into the model calculations in order to remove the physical feedback between convective heating and wind fields. Excluding the response of complex physical processes, the model with the experimental setup contains a complete dynamical core and the CMT forcing. Comparison between two sets of 5-yr simulations using this idealized general circulation model (GCM) shows that the Hadley circulation is enhanced when the CMT forcing is included, in agreement with previous studies that used full GCMs. It suggests that dynamical processes make significant contributions to the total response of circulation to CMT forcing in the full GCMs. The momentum budget shows that the Coriolis force, boundary layer friction, and nonlinear interactions of velocity fields affect the responses of zonal wind field, and the adjustment of circulation follows an approximate geostrophic balance. The adjustment mechanism of meridional circulation in response to ageostrophic CMT forcing is examined. It is found that the strengthening of the Hadley circulation is an indirect response of the meridional wind to the zonal CMT forcing through the Coriolis effect, which is required for maintaining near-geostrophic balance.

scholarly journals A Density Current Parameterization Coupled with Emanuel’s Convection Scheme. Part II: 1D Simulations

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 898-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Yves Grandpeix ◽  
Jean-Philippe Lafore ◽  
Frédérique Cheruy
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Density Current ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Convection Scheme ◽  
Case Definitions ◽  
Convective Systems ◽  
Cold Pools ◽  
Single Column ◽  
Basic Parameters

Abstract The density current parameterization coupled with Emanuel’s convection scheme, described in Part I of this series of papers, is tested in a single-column framework for continental and maritime convective systems. The case definitions and reference simulations are provided by cloud-resolving models (CRMs). For both cases, the wake scheme yields cold pools with temperature and humidity differences relative to the environment in reasonable agreement with observations (with wake depth on the order of 2 km over land and 1 km over ocean). The coupling with the convection scheme yields convective heating, drying, and precipitation similar to those simulated by the CRM. Thus, the representation of the action of the wakes on convection in terms of available lifting energy (ALE) and available lifting power (ALP) appears satisfactory. The sensitivity of the wake–convection system to the basic parameters of the parameterization is widely explored. A range of values for each parameter is recommended to help with implementing the scheme in a full-fledged general circulation model.

scholarly journals Baroclinic Eddies and the Extent of the Hadley Circulation: An Idealized GCM Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 2744-2761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier J. Levine ◽  
Tapio Schneider
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Temperature Gradients ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Poleward Shift ◽  
Temperature Contrast ◽  
Effective Stability

The Hadley circulation has widened over the past 30 years. This widening has been qualitatively reproduced in general circulation model (GCM) simulations of a warming climate. Comprehensive GCM studies suggest this widening may be caused by a poleward shift in baroclinic eddy activity. Yet the limited amplitude of the climate change signals analyzed so far precludes a quantitative comparison with theories. This study uses two idealized GCMs, one with and one without an active hydrologic cycle, to investigate changes in the extent of the Hadley circulation over a wide range of climates. The climates span global-mean temperatures from 243 to 385 K and equator-to-pole temperature contrasts from 12 to 100 K. Baroclinic eddies control the extent of the Hadley circulation across most of these climates. A supercriticality criterion that quantifies the depth of baroclinic eddies relative to that of the troposphere turns out to be a good indicator of where baroclinic eddies become deep enough to terminate the Hadley circulation. The supercriticality depends on meridional temperature gradients and an effective stability that accounts for the effect of convective heating on baroclinic eddies. As the equator-to-pole temperature contrast weakens or the convective static stability increases, convective heating increasingly influences the thermal stratification of the troposphere and the supercriticality. Consistent with the supercriticality criterion, the Hadley circulation contracts as meridional temperature gradients increase, and it widens as the effective static stability increases. The former occurs during El Niño and may account for the observed Hadley circulation contraction then; the latter occurs during global warming.

scholarly journals A Scale Interaction Study on East Asian Cyclogenesis Using a General Circulation Model Coupled with an Interactively Nested Regional Model

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (9) ◽  
pp. 2851-2868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Inatsu ◽  
Masahide Kimoto
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation Model ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Mesh Size ◽  
The Sea Of Japan ◽  
Storm Activity ◽  
Anticyclonic Circulation

Abstract This study newly developed the interactively nested climate model (INCL) using a general circulation model (GCM) interactively nested with a regional atmospheric model (RAM). One interactive experiment with finer RAM topography and another with coarser topography, as well as offline versions of each experiment, were performed to investigate the effects of subsynoptic-scale eddies and subsynoptic-scale mountains in northeast Asia on the larger-scale climate, using the GCM with T42 atmosphere and the RAM with 40-km mesh size in the INCL system. The subsynoptic-scale eddy effect restrictively increased synoptic-scale eddy activity within the RAM domain. In contrast, subsynoptic-scale mountains had the effect of robust anticyclonic circulation around the Sea of Japan and effectively forced larger-scale circulation. The effect was positively fed back to the mean field and amplified the anticyclonic circulation accompanied by suppressed storm activity in northeast Asia. The results suggest that subsynoptic-scale mountains affect not only subsynoptic-scale eddies but also the global climate.

scholarly journals Variability of Tropical Cyclone Frequency Over the Western North Pacific in 2018–2020

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomomichi Ogata ◽  
Yuya Baba
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Cyclone ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Western North Pacific ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Atmospheric Variability ◽  
Convection Scheme ◽  
Planetary Scale ◽  
Ensemble Simulations ◽  
Potential Index

In this study, we examine the tropical cyclone (TC) activity over the western North Pacific (WNP) in 2018–2020 and its relationship with planetary scale convection and circulation anomalies, which play an important role for TC genesis. To determine the sea surface temperature (SST)-forced atmospheric variability, atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) ensemble simulations are executed along with the observed SST. For AGCM experiments, we use two different convection schemes to examine uncertainty in convective parameterization and robustness of simulated atmospheric response. The observed TC activity and genesis potential demonstrated consistent features. In our AGCM ensemble simulations, the updated convection scheme improves the simulation ability of observed genesis potential as well as planetary scale convection and circulation features, e.g., in September–October–November (SON), a considerable increase in the genesis potential index over the WNP in SON 2018, WNP in SON 2019, and South China Sea (SCS) in SON 2020, which were not captured in the Emanuel scheme, have been simulated in the updated convection scheme.

scholarly journals A Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer HDO/H<sub>2</sub>O retrieval simulator for climate models

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 13827-13880
Author(s):  
R. D. Field ◽  
C. Risi ◽  
G. A. Schmidt ◽  
J. Worden ◽  
A. Voulgarakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Satellite Measurement ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Accurate Comparison ◽  
Free Running ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Short Time

Abstract. Retrievals of the isotopic composition of water vapor from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) have unique value in constraining moist processes in climate models. Accurate comparison between simulated and retrieved values requires that model profiles that would be poorly retrieved are excluded, and that an instrument operator be applied to the remaining profiles. Typically, this is done by sampling model output at satellite measurement points and using the quality flags and averaging kernels from individual retrievals at specific places and times. This approach is not reliable when the modeled meteorological conditions influencing retrieval sensitivity are different from those observed by the instrument at short time scales, which will be the case for free-running climate simulations. In this study, we describe an alternative, "categorical" approach to applying the instrument operator, implemented within the NASA GISS ModelE general circulation model. Retrieval quality and averaging kernel structure are predicted empirically from model conditions, rather than obtained from collocated satellite observations. This approach can be used for arbitrary model configurations, and requires no agreement between satellite-retrieved and modeled meteorology at short time scales. To test this approach, nudged simulations were conducted using both the retrieval-based and categorical operators. Cloud cover, surface temperature and free-tropospheric moisture content were the most important predictors of retrieval quality and averaging kernel structure. There was good agreement between the δD fields after applying the retrieval-based and more detailed categorical operators, with increases of up to 30‰ over the ocean and decreases of up to 40‰ over land relative to the raw model fields. The categorical operator performed better over the ocean than over land, and requires further refinement for use outside of the tropics. After applying the TES operator, ModelE had δD biases of −8‰ over ocean and −34‰ over land compared to TES δD, which were less than the biases using raw modeled δD fields.

scholarly journals Essential Ingredients to the Dynamics of Westerly Wind Bursts

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (17) ◽  
pp. 5549-5565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minmin Fu ◽  
Eli Tziperman
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Basic Mechanism ◽  
Surface Heat ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Short Time Scale ◽  
Westerly Wind ◽  
Atmospheric Phenomena ◽  
Wind Bursts ◽  
Westerly Wind Bursts

Abstract Westerly wind bursts (WWBs) are brief, anomalously westerly winds in the tropical Pacific that play a role in the dynamics of ENSO through their forcing of ocean Kelvin waves. They have been associated with atmospheric phenomena such as tropical cyclones, the MJO, and convectively coupled Rossby waves, yet their basic mechanism is not yet well understood. We study WWBs using an aquaplanet general circulation model, and find that eastward-propagating convective heating plays a key role in the generation of model WWBs, consistent with previous studies. Furthermore, wind-induced surface heat exchange (WISHE) acts on a short time scale of about two days to dramatically amplify the model WWB winds near the peak of the event. On the other hand, it is found that radiation feedbacks (i.e., changes in the net radiative anomalies accompanying westerly wind bursts) are not essential for the development of WWBs, and act as a weak negative feedback on WWBs and their associated convection. Similarly, sensible surface heat flux anomalies are not found to have an effect on the development of model WWBs.

scholarly journals Composite Analysis of Winter Cyclones in a GCM: Influence on Climatological Humidity

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1652-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Bauer ◽  
Anthony D. Del Genio
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Frontal Zones ◽  
Goddard Institute ◽  
Ageostrophic Circulation

Abstract The role of midlatitude baroclinic cyclones in maintaining the extratropical winter distribution of water vapor in an operational global climate model is investigated. A cyclone identification and tracking algorithm is used to compare the frequency of occurrence, propagation characteristics, and composite structure of 10 winters of storms in the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model (GCM) and in two reanalysis products. Cyclones are the major dynamical source of water vapor over the extratropical oceans in the reanalyses. The GCM produces fewer, generally weaker, and slower-moving cyclones than the reanalyses and is especially deficient in storms associated with secondary cyclogenesis. Composite fields show that GCM cyclones are shallower and drier aloft than those in the reanalyses and that their vertical structure is less tilted in the frontal region because of the GCM’s weaker ageostrophic circulation. This is consistent with the GCM’s underprediction of midlatitude cirrus. The GCM deficiencies do not appear to be primarily due to parameterization errors; the model is too dry despite producing less storm precipitation than is present in the reanalyses and in an experimental satellite precipitation dataset, and the weakness and shallow structure of GCM cyclones is already present at storm onset. These shortcomings may be common to most climate GCMs that do not resolve the mesoscale structure of frontal zones, and this may account for some universal problems in climate GCM midlatitude cloud properties.

scholarly journals Axisymmetric Constraints on Cross-Equatorial Hadley Cell Extent

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (6) ◽  
pp. 1547-1564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer A. Hill ◽  
Simona Bordoni ◽  
Jonathan L. Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Angular Momentum ◽  
Zonal Wind ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Hadley Cell ◽  
Equal Area ◽  
Area Model ◽  
Hadley Cells

Abstract We consider the relevance of known constraints from each of Hide’s theorem, the angular momentum–conserving (AMC) model, and the equal-area model on the extent of cross-equatorial Hadley cells. These theories respectively posit that a Hadley circulation must span all latitudes where the radiative–convective equilibrium (RCE) absolute angular momentum satisfies or or where the RCE absolute vorticity satisfies ; all latitudes where the RCE zonal wind exceeds the AMC zonal wind; and over a range such that depth-averaged potential temperature is continuous and that energy is conserved. The AMC model requires knowledge of the ascent latitude , which needs not equal the RCE forcing maximum latitude . Whatever the value of , we demonstrate that an AMC cell must extend at least as far into the winter hemisphere as the summer hemisphere. The equal-area model predicts , always placing it poleward of . As is moved poleward (at a given thermal Rossby number), the equal-area-predicted Hadley circulation becomes implausibly large, while both and become increasingly displaced poleward of the minimal cell extent based on Hide’s theorem (i.e., of supercritical forcing). In an idealized dry general circulation model, cross-equatorial Hadley cells are generated, some spanning nearly pole to pole. All homogenize angular momentum imperfectly, are roughly symmetric in extent about the equator, and appear in extent controlled by the span of supercritical forcing.

scholarly journals A description of the FAMOUS (version XDBUA) climate model and control run

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Smith ◽  
J. M. Gregory ◽  
A. Osprey
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Cold Bias ◽  
Northern Latitudes ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Atmosphere General Circulation Model ◽  
And Control

Abstract. FAMOUS is an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model of low resolution, capable of simulating approximately 120 years of model climate per wallclock day using current high performance computing facilities. It uses most of the same code as HadCM3, a widely used climate model of higher resolution and computational cost, and has been tuned to reproduce the same climate reasonably well. FAMOUS is useful for climate simulations where the computational cost makes the application of HadCM3 unfeasible, either because of the length of simulation or the size of the ensemble desired. We document a number of scientific and technical improvements to the original version of FAMOUS. These improvements include changes to the parameterisations of ozone and sea-ice which alleviate a significant cold bias from high northern latitudes and the upper troposphere, and the elimination of volume-averaged drifts in ocean tracers. A simple model of the marine carbon cycle has also been included. A particular goal of FAMOUS is to conduct millennial-scale paleoclimate simulations of Quaternary ice ages; to this end, a number of useful changes to the model infrastructure have been made.

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