Identification

Title

A limited area model (LAM) intercomparison study of a TWP-ICE active monsoon mesoscale convective event

Abstract

A limited area model (LAM) intercomparison study is conducted based on a tropical monsoonal deep convection case observed during the Tropical Warm Pool - International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE). The LAM simulations are compared with the variational analyses (VA) based on the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) observations and the cloud resolving model (CRM) simulations forced by the VA. Driven by the ECMWF analyses or global model forecasts, LAMs are able to produce the large-scale thermodynamic field reasonably well compared with the VA. However, the LAM simulated dynamic fields, such as the large-scale horizontal divergence, vertical velocity, and cyclogenesis in the monsoonal trough, have a large inter-model spread and deviate substantially from observations. Despite the differences in large-scale forcing, there is certain consistency between the CRM and LAM simulations: stratiform (w ≤ 1 m s⁻¹) ice clouds dominate the cloud fraction and convective (w > 3 m s⁻¹) clouds occupy less than 3 percent of the total cloudy area. But the hydrometeor content of stratiform ice clouds is only one tenth of that of convective and transitional (1 m s⁻¹ < w ≤ 3 m s⁻¹) ice clouds. However, there is a large inter-LAM spread in the simulated cloud fraction and hydrometeor mixing ratios. The inter-LAM difference in solid phase hydrometeors (cloud ice, snow, and graupel) can be up to nearly a factor of 10. Among all the hydrometeor types, the stratiform ice clouds are simulated least consistently by the LAMs. The large inter-LAM spread suggests that obtaining consistent and reliable dynamic and cloud fields remains a challenge for the LAM approach.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7222vcg

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-06-06T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact