Collective Effects of Organized Convection and Their Approximation in General Circulation Models

Abstract

The collective effects of organized convection the environment were estimated using a two-dimensional, two-way nested cloud-resolving numerical model with a large outer domain (4500 km). As initial conditions, the authors used an idealized environment of the onset stage of the December 1992 westerly wind burst that occurred during the Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment. Two key aspects relating to convective parameterization were examined. First, the transports, sources, and sinks of heat, moisture, and momentum were derived using the model-produced dataset. In particular, the total momentum flux compares well with Moncrieff's dynamical theory. Second, the bulk energetics of the cloud system were examined using the model-produced dataset. The authors found that the shear generation of kinetic energy is comparable to the buoyancy generation and dominates the sum of the buoyancy and water-loading generation. This means that, in addition to the thermodynamic generation of kinetic energy, shear generation should be included in the closure condition for the parameterization of organized convection in large-scale models. A simple mass-flux-based parameterization scheme is outlined for organized convection that consistently treats dynamical and thermodynamical fluxes.