Open AccessSelf‐consistency tests of large‐scale dynamics parameterizations for single‐column modeling
Author(s) -
Edman Jacob P.,
Romps David M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of advances in modeling earth systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.03
H-Index - 58
ISSN - 1942-2466
DOI - 10.1002/2014ms000378
Subject(s) - consistency (knowledge bases) , scale (ratio) , convergence (economics) , coupling (piping) , statistical physics , meteorology , physics , mathematics , materials science , geometry , quantum mechanics , economics , metallurgy , economic growth
Large‐scale dynamics parameterizations are tested numerically in cloud‐resolving simulations, including a new version of the weak‐pressure‐gradient approximation (WPG) introduced by Edman and Romps (2014), the weak‐temperature‐gradient approximation (WTG), and a prior implementation of WPG. We perform a series of self‐consistency tests with each large‐scale dynamics parameterization, in which we compare the result of a cloud‐resolving simulation coupled to WTG or WPG with an otherwise identical simulation with prescribed large‐scale convergence. In self‐consistency tests based on radiative‐convective equilibrium (RCE; i.e., no large‐scale convergence), we find that simulations either weakly coupled or strongly coupled to either WPG or WTG are self‐consistent, but WPG‐coupled simulations exhibit a nonmonotonic behavior as the strength of the coupling to WPG is varied. We also perform self‐consistency tests based on observed forcings from two observational campaigns: the Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment (TWP‐ICE) and the ARM Southern Great Plains (SGP) Summer 1995 IOP. In these tests, we show that the new version of WPG improves upon prior versions of WPG by eliminating a potentially troublesome gravity‐wave resonance.