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Diurnal variation and cloud in a general circulation model
Author(s) -
Wilson C. A.,
Mitchell J. F. B.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711247205
Subject(s) - diurnal cycle , diurnal temperature variation , environmental science , climatology , atmospheric sciences , general circulation model , radiative transfer , forcing (mathematics) , cloud forcing , climate model , convection , variation (astronomy) , cloud cover , cloud computing , meteorology , climate change , geography , geology , physics , computer science , oceanography , quantum mechanics , astrophysics , operating system
It is shown that changing the resolution of the diurnal cycle of cloud and radiative fluxes in an atmospheric general circulation model can affect the simulated climate. The effect on radiative forcing of using a temporal resolution which is unable to represent accurately the phase of diurnal variation in cloud is illustrated using a radiative‐convective version of the model. Similar results are found in the full model simulation for July, especially over land in the tropics. A detailed study of the changes over North Africa shows that the reduction in solar heating at the surface leads to a reduction in low‐level convergence and rainfall, and increased low cloud. The results indicate that cloud amounts need to be updated more frequently than four times a day if the model simulation is not to be degraded when the diurnal cycle is represented.