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Resolved Convection Improves the Representation of Equatorial Waves and Tropical Rainfall Variability in a Global Nonhydrostatic Model
Author(s) -
Judt Falko,
RiosBerrios Rosimar
Publication year - 2021
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 - 10.1029/2021gl093265
Subject(s) - convection , climatology , precipitation , climate model , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , general circulation model , meteorology , equatorial waves , tropical wave , atmospheric convection , geology , tropical cyclone , climate change , physics , geodesy , oceanography , latitude , equator
Abstract Numerical weather and climate models continue to struggle with simulating equatorial waves and tropical rainfall variability. This study presents a potential remedy—high‐resolution global models with explicitly resolved convection. A series of global nonhydrostatic simulations was produced with horizontal cell spacings between 3.75 and 480 km; the share of resolved precipitation in these simulations ranged from 88% to 2%. The simulations in which convection was mostly resolved produced much more realistic equatorial waves than the simulations in which convection was mostly parameterized. Consequently, the simulations with resolved convection produced more realistic precipitation patterns and precipitation variances. The results demonstrate that high‐resolution global models with explicitly resolved convection are a promising tool to improve tropical weather forecasts and climate projections.