Improved techniques for evaluating GCM cloudiness applied to the NCAR CCM3

Evaluations of GCM cloudiness typically compare climatological output with observations, but averaging over time can obscure the presence of compensating errors. A more informative and stringent evaluation can be obtained by averaging cloud properties according to meteorological process (i.e., compositing). The present study illustrates this by comparing simulated and observed cloudiness composited on 500-mb pressure vertical velocity over the summertime midlatitude North Pacific. Observed cloud properties are daily ERBE cloud radiative forcing, daily NVAP liquid water path, and 3-hourly ISCCP cloud optical thickness and cloud-top pressure. ECMWF and NCEP—NCAR reanalyses provide vertical velocity. The GCM evaluated is the NCAR CCM3 with Rasch and Kristjánsson (1998) predicted cloud condensate. Results show that CCM3 overproduces cloud optical thickness, cloud-top height, and cloud radiative forcing under conditions of synoptic ascent and underproduces cloud cover, cloud-top height, and cloud radiative forcing under conditions of synoptic subsidence. The underproduction of cloudiness in the subsidence regime creates an unrealistic sensitivity of CCM3 low-level cloud cover to changes in circulation. As a result interannual variability of summertime midlatitude North Pacific cloudiness in CCM3 is much more closely coupled to sea level pressure variability than SST variability, opposite the case for observed cloudiness. This demonstrates small-scale cloud parameterization errors directly and dominantly impact large-scale cloud variability despite the existence of a reasonable climatology.