A Test of Convective Parameterizations in a Tropical Cyclone Model

Abstract

In recent years a number of different methods have been proposed for the inclusion of the effects of cumuli in numerical models of tropical cyclones. In this paper several of the Kuo-type parameterizations have been tested by simulating the development of tropical cyclones from identical sets of initial conditions. The use of the same model and initial conditions made it possible to determine the effects of the various parameterizations. In the simulations without radiative fluxes, significant differences in the rates of intensification were evident in certain cases. In those simulations with radiative fluxes, the various parameterizations also produced different diurnal oscillations of pressure and wind speed.