Does convective aggregation need to be represented in cumulus parameterizations?

Tobin, I., Bony, S., Holloway, C. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9903-8989, Grandpeix, J.-Y., Seze, G., Coppin, D., Woolnough, S. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0500-8514 and Roca, R. (2013) Does convective aggregation need to be represented in cumulus parameterizations? Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 5 (4). pp. 692-703. ISSN 1942-2466 doi: 10.1002/jame.20047

Abstract/Summary

Tropical deep convection exhibits a variety of levels of aggregation over a wide range of scales. Based on a multisatellite analysis, the present study shows at mesoscale that different levels of aggregation are statistically associated with differing large-scale atmospheric states, despite similar convective intensity and large-scale forcings. The more aggregated the convection, the dryer and less cloudy the atmosphere, the stronger the outgoing longwave radiation, and the lower the planetary albedo. This suggests that mesoscale convective aggregation has the potential to affect couplings between moisture and convection and between convection, radiation, and large-scale ascent. In so doing, aggregation may play a role in phenomena such as “hot spots” or the Madden-Julian Oscillation. These findings support the need for the representation of mesoscale organization in cumulus parameterizations; most parameterizations used in current climate models lack any such representation. The ability of a cloud system-resolving model to reproduce observed relationships suggests that such models may be useful to guide attempts at parameterizations of convective aggregation.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/35307
Identification Number/DOI	10.1002/jame.20047
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > NCAS Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Uncontrolled Keywords	tropical deep convection;convective aggregation;satellite observations cloud-system resolving model;cumulus parameterization;large-scale circulation
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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