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3. RACORO-FASTER: climate significance and single-column model simulations

 

Authors

Wuyin Lin — Brookhaven National Laboratory
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Ann M. Fridlind — NASA - Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Andrew M. Vogelmann — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Satoshi Endo — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Tami Fairless — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Audrey B. Wolf — NASA - Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Yangang Liu — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Leo Donner — Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Anthony D. Del Genio — National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Category

Modeling

Description

This work places into climatological context the Routine AAF Clouds with Low Optical Water Depths (CLOWD) Optical Radiative Observations (RACORO)/ FAst-physics System TEstbed and Research (FASTER) case studies to improve our understanding of continental boundary-layer clouds and their representation in climate models. The climatic significance is quantified for the case study regimes specifically and the RACORO-type clouds generally, in terms of occurrence frequency, radiative effects, and environmental conditions, using ARM and other complementary measurements, and under the guidance of an objective cloud regime classification. We then use single-column model (SCM) simulations to further investigate the climate model representation of the RACORO-type clouds. The SCM work contains two parts. Multi-year SCM simulations by Global Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) AM2 and AM3, GISS, and CAM3, CAM4, and CAM5 SCMs, driven by observationally constrained ARM large-scale forcings, are first used to assess typical GCM representation or misrepresentation of such clouds. The SCM simulations for the newly developed RACORO-FASTER cases are then examined in greater detail, focusing on the development and evolution of the clouds, and the relative contribution of different model physical processes, in particular those that are responsible for the major model biases.