Identification

Title

An evaluation of WRF simulations of clouds over the southern ocean with A-Train observations

Abstract

The representation of the marine boundary layer (BL) clouds remains a formidable challenge for state-of-the-art simulations. A recent study by Bodas-Salcedo et al. using the Met Office Unified Model highlights that the underprediction of the low/midlevel postfrontal clouds contributes to the largest bias of the surface downwelling shortwave radiation over the Southern Ocean (SO). A-Train observations and limited in situ measurements have been used to evaluate the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, version 3.3.1 (WRFV3.3.1), in simulating the postfrontal clouds over Tasmania and the SO. The simulated cloud macro/microphysical properties are compared against the observations. Experiments are also undertaken to test the sensitivity of model resolution, microphysical (MP) schemes, planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration. The simulations demonstrate a considerable level of skill in representing the clouds during the frontal passages and, to a lesser extent, in the postfrontal environment. The simulations, however, have great difficulties in portraying the widespread marine BL clouds that are not immediately associated with fronts. This shortcoming is persistent to the changes of model configuration and physical parameterization. The representation of large-scale conditions and their connections with the BL clouds are discussed. A lack of BL moisture is the most obvious explanation for the shortcoming, which may be a consequence of either strong entrainment or weak surface fluxes. It is speculated that the BL wind shear/turbulence may be an issue over the SO. More comprehensive observations are necessary to fully investigate the deficiency of the simulations.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7pn96jz

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

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code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

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geoscientificInformation

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Text

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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

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End position

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date type

publication

effective date

2014-02-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

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Conformity

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Copyright 2014 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

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None

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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

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pointOfContact

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