Sam F. Iacobellis

Single-column models and cloud ensemble models as links between observations and climate models

Abstract Among the methods that have been devised to test physical parameterizations used in general circulation models, one of the most promising involves the use of field data together with single-column models (SCMs) and/or cloud ensemble models. Here the authors briefly discuss the data requirements of such models and then give several examples of their use. Emphasis is on parameterizations of convection and cloud amount.

Intercomparison and evaluation of cumulus parametrizations under summertime midlatitude continental conditions

This study reports the Single-Column Model (SCM) part of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)/the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Cloud System Study (GCSS) joint SCM and Cloud-Resolving Model (CRM) Case 3 intercomparison study, with a focus on evaluation of cumulus parametrizations used in SCMs. Fifteen SCMs are evaluated under summertime midlatitude continental conditions using data collected at the ARM Southern Great Plains site during the summer 1997 Intensive Observing Period. Results from ten CRMs are also used to diagnose problems in the SCMs. It is shown that most SCMs can generally capture well the convective events that were well-developed within the SCM domain, while most of them have difficulties in simulating the occurrence of those convective events that only occurred within a small part of the domain. All models significantly underestimate the surface stratiform precipitation. A third of them produce large errors in surface precipitation and thermodynamic structures. Deficiencies in convective triggering mechanisms are thought to be one of the major reasons. Using a triggering mechanism that is based on the vertical integral of parcel buoyant energy without additional appropriate constraints results in overactive convection, which in turn leads to large systematic warm/dry biases in the troposphere. It is also shown that a non-penetrative convection scheme can underestimate the depth of instability for midlatitude convection, which leads to large systematic cold/moist biases in the troposphere. SCMs agree well quantitatively with CRMs in the updraught mass fluxes, while most models significantly underestimate the downdraught mass fluxes. Neglect of mesoscale updraught and downdraught mass fluxes in the SCMs contributes considerably to the discrepancies between the SCMs and the CRMs. In addition, uncertainties in the diagnosed mass fluxes in the CRMs and deficiencies with cumulus parametrizations are not negligible. Similar results are obtained in the sensitivity tests when different forcing approaches are used. Finally, sensitivity tests from an SCM indicate that its simulations can be greatly improved when its triggering mechanism and closure assumption are improved.

A comparison of single column model simulations of summertime midlatitude continental convection

Eleven different single-column models (SCMs) and one cloud ensemble model (CEM) are driven by boundary conditions observed at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program southern Great Plains site for a 17 day period during the summer of 1995. Comparison of the model simulations reveals common signatures identifiable as products of errors in the boundary conditions. Intermodel differences in the simulated temperature, humidity, cloud, precipitation, and radiative fluxes reflect differences in model resolution or physical parameterizations, although sensitive dependence on initial conditions can also contribute to intermodel differences. All models perform well at times but poorly at others. Although none of the SCM simulations stands out as superior to the others, the simulation by the CEM is in several respects in better agreement with the observations than the simulations by the SCMs. Nudging of the simulated temperature and humidity toward observations generally improves the simulated cloud and radiation fields as well as the simulated temperature and humidity but degrades the precipitation simulation for models with large temperature and humidity biases without nudging. Although some of the intermodel differences have not been explained, others have been identified as model problems that can be or have been corrected as a result of the comparison.

The Great 2006 Heat Wave over California and Nevada: Signal of an Increasing Trend

Abstract Most of the great California–Nevada heat waves can be classified into primarily daytime or nighttime events depending on whether atmospheric conditions are dry or humid. A rash of nighttime-accentuated events in the last decade was punctuated by an unusually intense case in July 2006, which was the largest heat wave on record (1948–2006). Generally, there is a positive trend in heat wave activity over the entire region that is expressed most strongly and clearly in nighttime rather than daytime temperature extremes. This trend in nighttime heat wave activity has intensified markedly since the 1980s and especially since 2000. The two most recent nighttime heat waves were also strongly expressed in extreme daytime temperatures. Circulations associated with great regional heat waves advect hot air into the region. This air can be dry or moist, depending on whether a moisture source is available, causing heat waves to be expressed preferentially during day or night. A remote moisture source centered ...

Flocculation of Fine-Grained Lake Sediments Due to a Uniform Shear Stress

Experiments were performed to investigate the effects of fluid shear on the flocculation of fine-grained lake sediments in fresh water. In these experiments, a Couette viscometer was used to apply a uniform shear stress to a sediment suspension. The sediments were from the Detroit River inlet of Lake Erie. They were prepared such that the initial (unflocculated) size distribution contained approximately 90% of its mass in particles less than 10 μm in diameter with the average diameter being about 3.5 μm. Experiments were performed at shear stresses of 1, 2, and 4 dynes/cm2 and sediment concentrations of 50, 100, 400, and 800 mg/L, values which are characteristic of those found in the Great Lakes. Data in the form of floc size distribution as a function of time were obtained. For steady-state conditions, the median diameters of the flocs formed were typically 20 to 100 μm depending on shear stress and sediment concentration. Quantitative results for the decrease in the steady-state floc size with increasing shear stress and with increasing sediment concentration were obtained. The times required for flocculation to occur under different conditions were also determined and were typically on the order of 1 hour.

North Pacific Cloud Feedbacks Inferred from Synoptic-Scale Dynamic and Thermodynamic Relationships

Daily satellite cloud observations and reanalysis dynamical parameters are analyzed to determine how midtropospheric vertical velocity and advection over the sea surface temperature gradient control midlatitude North Pacific cloud properties. Optically thick clouds with high tops are generated by synoptic ascent, but two different cloud regimes occur under synoptic descent. When vertical motion is downward during summer, extensive stratocumulus cloudiness is associated with near-surface northerly wind, while frequent cloudless pixels occur with southerly wind. Examination of ship-reported cloud types indicates that midlatitude stratocumulus breaks up as the boundary layer decouples when it is advected equatorward over warmer water. Cumulus is prevalent under conditions of synoptic descent and cold advection during winter. Poleward advection of subtropical air over colder water causes stratification of the near-surface layer that inhibits upward mixing of moisture and suppresses cloudiness until a fog eventually forms. Averaging of cloud and radiation data into intervals of 500-hPa vertical velocity and advection over the SST gradient enables the cloud response to changes in temperature and the stratification of the lower troposphere to be investigated independent of the dynamics. Vertically uniform warming results in decreased cloud amount and optical thickness over a large range of dynamical conditions. Further calculations indicate that a decrease in the variance of vertical velocity would lead to a small decrease in mean cloud optical thickness and cloud-top height. These results suggest that reflection of solar radiation back to space by midlatitude oceanic clouds will decrease as a direct response to global warming, thus producing an overall positive feedback on the climate system. An additional decrease in solar reflection would occur were the storm track also to weaken, whereas an intensification of the storm track would partially cancel the cloud response to warming.

Influence of oceanic whitecaps on the Global Radiation Budget

Oceanic whitecaps may exert a cooling influence on the planet by increasing surface albedo. The direct, globally averaged radiative forcing due to whitecaps lies in the range 0-0.14 Wm -2 with a probable value of 0.03 Wm -2 . Though small, this global value is not negligible compared with the forcing due to some greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols since preindustrial times. The relative importance of whitecaps may be greater on regional and seasonal scales, with radiative forcing values reaching 0.7 Wm -2 in the Indian Ocean during summer. Whitecap effects on surface albedo should be taken into account explicitly in the numerical modeling and analysis of climate change.

Urbanization causes increased cloud base height and decreased fog in coastal Southern California

Subtropical marine stratus clouds regulate coastal and global climate, but future trends in these clouds are uncertain. In coastal Southern California (CSCA), interannual variations in summer stratus cloud occurrence are spatially coherent across 24 airfields and dictated by positive relationships with stability above the marine boundary layer (MBL) and MBL height. Trends, however, have been spatially variable since records began in the mid-1900s due to differences in nighttime warming. Among CSCA airfields, differences in nighttime warming, but not daytime warming, are strongly and positively related to fraction of nearby urban cover, consistent with an urban heat island effect. Nighttime warming raises the near-surface dew point depression, which lifts the altitude of condensation and cloud base height, thereby reducing fog frequency. Continued urban warming, rising cloud base heights, and associated effects on energy and water balance would profoundly impact ecological and human systems in highly populated and ecologically diverse CSCA.

Direct climate forcing by biomass‐burning aerosols: Impact of correlations between controlling variables

Estimates of the direct climate forcing by condensed organic species resulting from biomass burning have been made using bulk radiative transfer models of various complexity and the SUNRAY radiation code of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts general circulation model. Aerosols arising from the burning of tropical forests and savannas as well as those from biomass fires outside the tropics are considered. The bulk models give values ranging from −1.0 to −0.6 W m−2, which compare with −0.7 W m−2 using the SUNRAY code. There appears to be significant uncertainty in these values due to uncertainties in the model input parameters. The difference is only 13% between the forcing obtained by taking into account the spatial and temporal distribution of the controlling variables and the forcing obtained using global averages for all the variables. This indicates that the effects of variations in the controlling variables tend to compensate. Yet the forcing varies by up to 34% depending on which variables are set to global averages. The SUNRAY results show that the efficiency at which the biomass-burning aerosols backscatter sunlight in cloudy conditions is 0.53, a value significantly higher than that reported for sulfate aerosols. Most of the difference is due to the relatively low latitude (hence low sun zenith angle) of the biomass-burning aerosol sources relative to the sulfate aerosol sources. The implication is that clouds should not be assumed to have a reflectivity of unity in bulk models. Comparison of SUNRAY and bulk model results points to other potential problems with bulk models. First, the use in bulk models of mean aerosol optical properties across the entire solar spectrum has significant impact on the calculated forcing and may account for 23% of the difference between SUNRAY and bulk model estimates in clear-sky conditions. Second, neglecting multiple scattering in bulk models introduces significant differences in the clear-sky forcing at high sun zenith angles.

Cloud radiation forcings and feedbacks: General circulation model tests and observational validation

Abstract Using an atmospheric general circulation model (the National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Climate Model: CCM2), the effects on climate sensitivity of several different cloud radiation parameterizations have been investigated. In addition to the original cloud radiation scheme of CCM2, four parameterizations incorporating prognostic cloud water were tested: one version with prescribed cloud radiative properties and three other versions with interactive cloud radiative properties. The authors’ numerical experiments employ perpetual July integrations driven by globally constant sea surface temperature forcings of two degrees, both positive and negative. A diagnostic radiation calculation has been applied to investigate the partial contributions of high, middle, and low cloud to the total cloud radiative forcing, as well as the contributions of water vapor, temperature, and cloud to the net climate feedback. The high cloud net radiative forcing is positive, and the middle and low cloud n...