A Study of the Response of Deep Tropical Clouds to Large-Scale Thermodynamic Forcings. Part I: Modeling Strategies and Simulations of TOGA COARE Convective Systems

Abstract

Interactions between deep tropical clouds over the western Pacific warm pool and the larger-scale environment are key to understanding climate change. Cloud models are an extremely useful tool in simulating and providing statistical information on heat and moisture transfer processes between cloud systems and the environment, and can therefore be utilized to substantially improve cloud parameterizations in climate models. In this paper, the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) cloud-resolving model is used in multiday simulations of deep tropical convective activity over the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean?Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). Large-scale temperature and moisture advective tendencies, and horizontal momentum from the TOGA COARE Intensive Flux Array region, are applied to the GCE version that incorporates cyclical boundary conditions. Sensitivity experiments show that the horizontal extent (size) of the domain produces the largest response to domain-mean temperature and moisture deviations, as well as cloudiness, in comparison with grid horizontal or vertical resolution, and advection scheme. It is found that a domain size of at least 512 km is needed to adequately contain the convective cloud features and to replicate both the eastward and westward movements of the observed precipitating systems. The control experiment shows that the atmospheric heating and moistening is primarily a response to cloud latent processes of condensation/evaporation, and deposition/sublimation. Air?sea exchange of heat and moisture is found to be of secondary importance, while the net radiational heating?cooling is small except above cloud tops. A convective?stratiform breakdown of the precipitating systems shows that while 55% of the total rainfall occurs in convective regions, 90% of the total rainfall coverage occurs in stratiform regions. The simulated rainfall and atmospheric heating and moistening rates agree very well with observations, and the results compare favorably to other models simulating this case.