Parameterization of Cloud–Radiation Processes in the UCLA General Circulation Model

Abstract

A contemporary radiation parameterization scheme has been implemented in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), atmospheric GCM (AGCM). This scheme is a combination of the delta-four-stream method for solar flux transfer and the delta-two-and-four-stream method for thermal infrared flux transfer. Both methods have been demonstrated to be computationally efficient and at the same time highly accurate in comparison with exact radiative transfer computations. The correlated-k distribution method for radiative transfer has been used to represent gaseous absorption in multiple-scattering atmospheres. The single-scattering properties for ice and water clouds are parameterized in terms of ice/liquid water content and mean effective size/radius. In conjunction with the preceding radiative scheme, parameterizations for fractional cloud cover and cloud vertical overlap have also been devised in the model in which the cloud amount is determined from the total cloud water mixing ratio. For radiation calculation purposes, the model clouds are vertically grouped in terms of low, middle, and high types. Maximum overlap is first used for each cloud type, followed by random overlap among the three cloud types. The preceding radiation and cloud parameterizations are incorporated into the UCLA AGCM, and it is shown that the simulated cloud cover and outgoing longwave radiation fields without any special tuning are comparable with those of International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) dataset and derived from radiation budget experiments. The use of the new radiation and cloud schemes enhances the radiative warming in the mid- to upper tropical troposphere and alleviates the cold bias that is common to many AGCMs. Sensitivity studies show that ice crystal size and cloud inhomogeneity significantly affect the radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere and the earth?s surface.