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Evaluating the simulation of precipitation by storm type in Energy Exascale Earth System Model

Presentation Date
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 5:25pm - Wednesday, December 14, 2022 at 5:35pm
Location
McCormick Place - E258
Authors

Author

Abstract

The development of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SMv1) has focused on improved understanding of the water cycle and the sensitivity of its simulation to model resolution. Conventional low-resolution (LR) climate models, including E3SM, have well-known biases in the simulation of the frequency, intensity, and timing of precipitation. Approaches to next generation resolutions in E3SM, whether the high-resolution (HR) or multiscale modeling framework (MMF) configuration, improve the simulation of the intensity and frequency of precipitation, though regional and seasonal deficiencies still exist. Here we apply a methodology to assess the characteristics of precipitation in E3SMv1-HR and E3SMv1-MMF relative to E3SMv1-LR by storm type. In particular, the contribution of tropical cyclones (TCs), extratropical cyclones (ETCs) and mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) to regional and seasonal precipitation is analyzed. E3SMv1-MMF is shown to improve the representation of precipitation over the central United States compared to E3SMv1-LR and E3SMv1-HR due to improvements in MCS rainfall. However, E3SMv1-HR shows some improvement in eastern United States precipitation related to E3SMv1-LR and E3SMv1-MMF as a result of the simulated TCs, though biases in intensity still exist. When compared to E3SMv1-LR, both E3SMv1-MMF and E3SMv1-HR demonstrate an improvement in the percentage of extreme precipitation events from ETCs over much of the United States. This work highlights that isolating simulated precipitation by storm type allows for more detailed understanding of model biases and opportunities for improvement in future versions of E3SM.

Category
Atmospheric Sciences
Funding Program Area(s)