Editorial Type:
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Article Type:
Research Article

A Characterization of Tropical Transient Activity in the CAM3 Atmospheric Hydrologic Cycle

Philip J. Rasch National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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Mark J. Stevens National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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Lucrezia Ricciardulli Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, California

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Aiguo Dai National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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Andrew Negri Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Robert Wood Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

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Byron A. Boville National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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Brian Eaton National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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James J. Hack National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado

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Print Publication:
01 Jun 2006
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3752.1
Page(s):
2222–2242
Restricted access

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Abstract

The Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) is the latest generation of a long lineage of general circulation models produced by a collaboration between the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the scientific research community. Many aspects of the hydrological cycle have been changed relative to earlier versions of the model. It is the goal of this paper to document some aspects of the tropical variability of clouds and the hydrologic cycle in CAM3 on time scales shorter than 30 days and to discuss the differences compared to the observed atmosphere and earlier model versions, with a focus on cloud-top brightness temperature, precipitation, and cloud liquid water path. The transient behavior of the model in response to changes in resolution to various numerical methods used to solve the equations for atmospheric dynamics and transport and to the underlying lower boundary condition of sea surface temperature and surface fluxes has been explored.

The ratio of stratiform to convective rainfall is much too low in CAM3, compared to observational estimates. It is much higher in CAM3 (10%) than the Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3; order 1%–2%) but is still a factor of 4–5 too low compared to observational estimates. Some aspects of the model transients are sensitive to resolution. Higher-resolution versions of CAM3 show too much variability (both in amplitude and spatial extent) in brightness temperature on time scales of 2–10 days compared to observational estimates. Precipitation variance is underestimated on time scales from a few hours to 10 days, compared to observations over ocean, although again the biases are reduced compared to previous generations of the model. The diurnal cycle over tropical landmasses is somewhat too large, and there is not enough precipitation during evening hours. The model tends to produce maxima in precipitation and liquid water path that are a few hours earlier than that seen in the observations over both oceans and land.

& The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation

Corresponding author address: Dr. Philip J. Rasch, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000. Email: pjr@ucar.edu

Abstract

The Community Atmosphere Model version 3 (CAM3) is the latest generation of a long lineage of general circulation models produced by a collaboration between the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the scientific research community. Many aspects of the hydrological cycle have been changed relative to earlier versions of the model. It is the goal of this paper to document some aspects of the tropical variability of clouds and the hydrologic cycle in CAM3 on time scales shorter than 30 days and to discuss the differences compared to the observed atmosphere and earlier model versions, with a focus on cloud-top brightness temperature, precipitation, and cloud liquid water path. The transient behavior of the model in response to changes in resolution to various numerical methods used to solve the equations for atmospheric dynamics and transport and to the underlying lower boundary condition of sea surface temperature and surface fluxes has been explored.

The ratio of stratiform to convective rainfall is much too low in CAM3, compared to observational estimates. It is much higher in CAM3 (10%) than the Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3; order 1%–2%) but is still a factor of 4–5 too low compared to observational estimates. Some aspects of the model transients are sensitive to resolution. Higher-resolution versions of CAM3 show too much variability (both in amplitude and spatial extent) in brightness temperature on time scales of 2–10 days compared to observational estimates. Precipitation variance is underestimated on time scales from a few hours to 10 days, compared to observations over ocean, although again the biases are reduced compared to previous generations of the model. The diurnal cycle over tropical landmasses is somewhat too large, and there is not enough precipitation during evening hours. The model tends to produce maxima in precipitation and liquid water path that are a few hours earlier than that seen in the observations over both oceans and land.

& The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation

Corresponding author address: Dr. Philip J. Rasch, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307-3000. Email: pjr@ucar.edu

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