Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade‐wind cumulus as observed during RICO

Authors

Margreet C. VanZanten, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Bjorn Stevens, University of California, Los Angeles
Louise Nuijens, University of California, Los Angeles
A P. Siebesma, Delft University
A S. Ackerman, Goddard Institute of Space Studies
F Burnet, Meteo‐France/CNRS
A Cheng, Langley Research Center
F Couvreux, Meteo‐France/CNRS
H Jiang, Colorado State University
M Khairoutdinov, Stony Brook University
Y Kogan, University of Oklahoma
D C. Lewellen, West Virginia University
D Mechem, University of Kansas
K Nakamura, Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology
A Noda, Japan Agency for Marine‐Earth Science and Technology
B J. Shipway, Met Office
J Slawinska, University of Warsaw
S Wang, Naval Research Laboratory
A Wyszogrodzki, NCAR

Author ORCID Identifier

N/A

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3795-0475

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0989-7443

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-5999

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N/A

N/A

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8440-3362

N/A

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8404-346X

N/A

N/A

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9166-9206

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8579-1611

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2011

College/Unit

Statler College of Engineering and Mining Resources

Department/Program/Center

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Abstract

[1] Twelve large‐eddy simulations, with a wide range of microphysical representations, are compared to each other and to independent measurements. The measurements and the initial and forcing data for the simulations are taken from the undisturbed period of the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field study. A regional downscaling of meteorological analyses is performed so as to provide forcing data consistent with the measurements. The ensemble average of the simulations plausibly reproduces many features of the observed clouds, including the vertical structure of cloud fraction, profiles of cloud and rain water, and to a lesser degree the population density of rain drops. The simulations do show considerable departures from one another in the representation of the cloud microphysical structure and the ensuant surface precipitation rates, increasingly so for the more simplified microphysical models. There is a robust tendency for simulations that develop rain to produce a shallower, somewhat more stable cloud layer. Relations between cloud cover and precipitation are ambiguous.

Digital Commons Citation

VanZanten, Margreet C.; Stevens, Bjorn; Nuijens, Louise; Siebesma, A P.; Ackerman, A S.; Burnet, F; Cheng, A; Couvreux, F; Jiang, H; Khairoutdinov, M; Kogan, Y; Lewellen, D C.; Mechem, D; Nakamura, K; Noda, A; Shipway, B J.; Slawinska, J; Wang, S; and Wyszogrodzki, A, "Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade‐wind cumulus as observed during RICO" (2011). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2785.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2785

Source Citation

vanZanten, M. C., Stevens, B., Nuijens, L., Siebesma, A. P., Ackerman, A. S., Burnet, F., Cheng, A., Couvreux, F., Jiang, H., Khairoutdinov, M., Kogan, Y., Lewellen, D. C., Mechem, D., Nakamura, K., Noda, A., Shipway, B. J., Slawinska, J., Wang, S., & Wyszogrodzki, A. (2011). Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade-wind cumulus as observed during RICO. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 3(2), n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1029/2011ms000056

Comments

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