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Publication Date
18 March 2021

Effects of coupling a stochastic convective parameterization with the Zhang–McFarlane scheme on precipitation simulation in the DOE E3SMv1.0 atmosphere model

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A stochastic deep convection parameterization is implemented into the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Atmosphere Model version 1.0 (EAMv1). This study evaluates its performance on the precipitation simulation. Compared to the default model, the probability distribution function (PDF) of rainfall intensity in the new simulation is greatly improved. Especially, the well-known problem of “too much light rain and too little heavy rain” is alleviated over the tropics. As a result, the contribution from different rain rates to the total precipitation amount is shifted toward heavier rain. The less frequent occurrence of convection contributes to the suppressed light rain, while both more intense large-scale and convective precipitation contributes to the enhanced heavy total rain. The synoptic and intraseasonal variabilities of precipitation are enhanced as well to be closer to observations. The sensitivity of the rainfall intensity PDF to the model vertical resolution is examined. The relationship between precipitation and dilute convective available potential energy in the stochastic simulation agrees better with that in the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) observations compared with the standard model simulation. The annual mean precipitation is largely unchanged with the use of the stochastic scheme except over the tropical western Pacific, where a moderate increase in precipitation represents a slight improvement. The responses of precipitation and its extremes to climate warming are similar with or without the stochastic deep convection scheme.

“Effects Of Coupling A Stochastic Convective Parameterization With The Zhang–Mcfarlane Scheme On Precipitation Simulation In The Doe E3Smv1.0 Atmosphere Model”. 2021. Geoscientific Model Development 14: 1575 - 1593. doi:10.5194/gmd-14-1575-2021.
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