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Deep moist atmospheric convection in a subkilometer global simulation
Author(s) -
Miyamoto Yoshiaki,
Kajikawa Yoshiyuki,
Yoshida Ryuji,
Yamaura Tsuyoshi,
Yashiro Hisashi,
Tomita Hirofumi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/grl.50944
Subject(s) - convection , atmospheric convection , convective available potential energy , meteorology , free convective layer , atmospheric sciences , convection cell , atmospheric model , convective inhibition , thermal , geology , geophysics , environmental science , natural convection , climatology , physics , combined forced and natural convection
Deep moist atmospheric convection is a key element of the weather and climate system for transporting mass, momentum, and thermal energy. It has been challenging to simulate convection realistically in global atmospheric models because of the large gap in spatial scales between convection (10 0 km) and global motions (10 4 km). We conducted the first ever subkilometer global simulation and described the features of convection. Through a series of grid‐refinement resolution testing, we found that an essential change for convection statistics occurred around 2 km grid spacing. The convection structure, number of convective cells, and distance to the nearest convective cell dramatically changed at this resolution. The convection core was resolved using multiple grids in simulations with grid spacings less than 2.0 km.