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DOE OSTI2025

Exposing Process‐Level Biases in a Global Cloud Permitting Model With ARM Observations

The emergence of global convective‐permitting models (GCPMs) represents a significant advancement in climate modeling, offering improved representation of deep convection and complex precipitation patterns. In this study, we evaluate the performance of the Simple Cloud‐Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) using its doubly periodic configuration (DP‐SCREAM) against large eddy simulations and modern observational data sets from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program. We introduce several new transitional cloud regime cases, such as the transition from shallow to deep convection and from stratocumulus to cumulus, as well as cold‐air outbreak scenarios. The results reveal both strengths and limitations of SCREAM, particularly in the accurate simulation of cloud transitions and midlevel convection, with varying degrees of sensitivity to horizontal and vertical resolution. Despite improvements at higher resolutions, key biases remain, including the abrupt transition from shallow to deep convection and the lack of congestus clouds. These findings underscore the need for further refinement in turbulence parameterizations and vertical grid resolution in GCPMs.

Bogenschutz, Peter A. [Lawrence Livermore National↗

DOE OSTI2022

Marine Boundary Layer Decoupling and the Stable Isotopic Composition of Water Vapor

Decoupling of the subcloud layer in stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layers (STMBL) influences low-cloud cover by limiting the supply of water vapor from the surface. However, the relative importance of mixing between surface fluxes and other reservoirs of water vapor as a function of the degree of decoupling is poorly understood. Water vapor transport within the STMBL and its response to decoupling is explored using surface measurements of water vapor isotopic composition that were obtained from Graciosa Island, Azores, during the summer and fall of 2018. The data show an inverse relationship between the decoupling metric, Δq, and the degree of drying from an isotopically depleted water vapor source. The isotopic data require some degree of drying with an isotopically depleted source for coupled conditions, and likely require a small amount of mixing even for strongly decoupled conditions. The data are consistent with mixing between purely local reservoirs of water vapor, subjected to a small amount of condensation and fractionation, and do not require the invocation of large-scale transport of water vapor aloft or additional cloud-formation effects aloft.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1980

Conditional instability of the first kind upside-down

It is shown that entrainment leads to the generation of turbulence kinetic energy in a stratocumulus layer when the virtual temperature jump at the cloud top is weaker than a critical value. The critical value increases as the relative humidity of the air above the cloud top decreases. This result is interpreted as a criterion for the instability of the layer cloud to penetrative downdrafts. The role of the instability in determining the subtropical and tropical distributions of boundary-layer cloudiness is assessed.

Randall, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Reflectivities of uniform and broken stratiform clouds: An update

The reflectivities of uniform and broken stratiform clouds obtained from the NOAA-9 and NOAA-10 overpasses collected during the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observations (IFO) were compared, and these reflectivities were compared with those obtained through radiative transfer calculation performed for plane-parallel cloud models. The objective was to determine the extent to which plane-parallel radiative transfer calculations could reproduce the reflectivities observed for uniform clouds and to determine the extent to which finite cloud effects cause broken clouds to reflect differently than uniform clouds. The latter study is to provide guidance in the parameterization of finite cloud effects in general circulation climate models as well as to assess the ability of plane-parallel theory, which is used by ISCCP to retrieve cloud properties, to treat the reflectivities of broken clouds. Some results from this study were reported at the last FIRE Science Team meeting and some were reported elsewhere (Coakley and Briegleb, 1989). Improvements since the previous reports include: (1) the analysis of additional satellite passes, and (2) a modification to the analysis which helps to show the significance of the differences in reflectivities for uniform and broken clouds.

Coakley, James A., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Studying marine stratus with large eddy simulation

Data sets from field experiments over the stratocumulus regime may include complications from larger scale variations, decoupled cloud layers, diurnal cycle, or entrainment instability, etc. On top of the already complicated turbulence-radiation-condensation processes within the cloud-topped boundary layer (CTBL), these complexities may sometimes make interpretation of the data sets difficult. To study these processes, a better understanding is needed of the basic processes involved in the prototype CTBL. For example, is cloud top radiative cooling the primary source of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) within the CTBL. Historically, laboratory measurements have played an important role in addressing the turbulence problems. The CTBL is a turbulent field which is probably impossible to generate in laboratories. Large eddy simulation (LES) is an alternative way of 'measuring' the turbulent structure under controlled environments, which allows the systematic examination of the basic physical processes involved. However, there are problems with the LES approach for the CTBL. The LES data need to be consistent with the observed data. The LES approach is discussed, and results are given which provide some insights into the simulated turbulent flow field. Problems with this approach for the CTBL and information from the FIRE experiment needed to justify the LES results are discussed.

Moeng, Chin-Hoh↗

NASA NTRS2013

Monte Carlo Bayesian Inference on a Statistical Model of Sub-gridcolumn Moisture Variability Using High-resolution Cloud Observations : Sensitivity Tests and Results - Part II

Part I presented a Monte Carlo Bayesian method for constraining a complex statistical model of GCM sub-gridcolumn moisture variability using high-resolution MODIS cloud data, thereby permitting large-scale model parameter estimation and cloud data assimilation. This part performs some basic testing of this new approach, verifying that it does indeed significantly reduce mean and standard deviation biases with respect to the assimilated MODIS cloud optical depth, brightness temperature and cloud top pressure, and that it also improves the simulated rotational-Ramman scattering cloud optical centroid pressure (OCP) against independent (non-assimilated) retrievals from the OMI instrument. Of particular interest, the Monte Carlo method does show skill in the especially difficult case where the background state is clear but cloudy observations exist. In traditional linearized data assimilation methods, a subsaturated background cannot produce clouds via any infinitesimal equilibrium perturbation, but the Monte Carlo approach allows finite jumps into regions of non-zero cloud probability. In the example provided, the method is able to restore marine stratocumulus near the Californian coast where the background state has a clear swath. This paper also examines a number of algorithmic and physical sensitivities of the new method and provides guidance for its cost-effective implementation. One obvious difficulty for the method, and other cloud data assimilation methods as well, is the lack of information content in the cloud observables on cloud vertical structure, beyond cloud top pressure and optical thickness, thus necessitating strong dependence on the background vertical moisture structure. It is found that a simple flow-dependent correlation modification due to Riishojgaard (1998) provides some help in this respect, by better honoring inversion structures in the background state.

Monte Carlo Bayesian inference↗

NASA NTRS1993

Radiatively driven interactions between stratocumulus and synoptic waves

Quasi-geostrophic disturbances on a midlatitude beta-plane channel forced by radiative heating perturbations due to synoptic-scale variations of low-level stratiform cloud are considered. The longitudinal phase of the cloud is linked to that of the low-level streamfunction. Cloudiness is wavelike with cooling above cloudy areas that decreases exponentially with height. No perturbation cooling occurs above cloud-free areas. Two background flows are considered: one is constant and the other has a jet centered near the tropopause. Forced linear steady waves are found. Though infinitesimal amplitude disturbances are considered, the problem is nonlinear because of the coupling between cloud and winds. The resulting structures are sensitive to the phase shift between cloud and streamfunction with strongest coupling for cloud to the west of surface troughs. The waves have vertical scales on the order of the troposphere depth. The stationary structures capture the summertime pattern of stratocumulus off California and its linkage to the mid-Pacific ridge. When zonal-mean cloud cooling is allowed, the mean westerlies are strengthened in the northern half of the channel near the lower boundary. Synoptic-scale amplitudes respond to the mean cloud cooling by increasing (decreasing) just above the cloud in the northern (southern) part of the channel.

Clark, John H. E.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Validation of satellite retrievals of cloud microsphysics and liquid water path using observations from FIRE

Cloud effective radii (r(sub e)) and cloud liquid water path (LWP) are derived from ISCCP spatially sampled satellite data and validated with ground-based pyranometer and microwave radiometer measurements taken on San Nicolas Island during the 1987 FIRE IFO. Values of r(sub e) derived from the ISCCP data are also compared to values retrieved by a hybrid method that uses the combination of LWP derived from microwave measurement and optical thickness derived from GOES data. The results show that there is significant variability in cloud properties over a 100 km x 80 km area and that the values at San Nicolas Island are not necessarily representative of the surrounding cloud field. On the other hand, even though there were large spatial variations in optical depth, the r(sub e) values remained relatively constant (with sigma less than or equal to 2-3 microns in most cases) in the marine stratocumulus. Furthermore, values of r(sub e) derived from the upper portion of the cloud generally are representative of the entire stratiform cloud. When LWP values are less than 100 g m(exp -2), then LWP values derived from ISCCP data agree well with those values estimated from ground-based microwave measurements. In most cases LWP differences were less than 20 g m(exp -2). However, when LWP values become large (e.g., greater than or equal to 200 g m(exp -2)), then relative differences may be as large as 50%- 100%. There are two reasons for this discrepancy in the large LWP clouds: (1) larger vertical inhomogeneities in precipitating clouds and (2) sampling errors on days of high spatial variability of cloud optical thicknesses. Variations of r(sub e) in stratiform clouds may indicate drizzle: clouds with droplet sizes larger than 15 microns appear to be associated with drizzling, while those less than 10 microns are indicative of nonprecipitating clouds. Differences in r(sub e) values between the GOES and ISCCP datasets are found to be 0.16 +/- 0.98 micron.

Rossow, W.↗

DOE OSTI2021

A Parameterization of Turbulent Dissipation and Pressure Damping Time Scales in Stably Stratified Inversions, and its Effects on Low Clouds in Global Simulations

Abstract It is difficult for coarse‐resolution global models of the atmosphere to accurately simulate the observed distribution of low clouds. In particular, it is difficult for moist turbulence closure models to simulate sufficiently bright near‐coastal stratocumulus (Sc) without simulating overly bright marine shallow cumuli (Cu). To parameterize bright Sc, a turbulence parameterization must damp the turbulent fluxes of heat and moisture above cloud top in order to prevent excessive entrainment of dry air into cloud top. To parameterize dim shallow Cu, the subgrid variances of temperature and moisture must remain large, in order to permit partial cloudiness. However, damping the fluxes but not the variances just above cloud top is difficult if a parameterization uses a single “master” time scale to damp both. In nature, the above‐cloud fluxes are damped by pressure fluctuations, whereas scalar variances are damped by a different process, namely, turbulent dissipation. In a stably stratified inversion above cloud, pressure damping is large but turbulent dissipation is small. To avoid this problem, a multitime scale parameterization for damping has been developed. The damping parameterization has been implemented in a global model and evaluated. The parameterization is capable of dimming shallow Cu while producing adequately bright Sc.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS2012

On the Nature and Extent of Optically Thin Marine low Clouds

Macrophysical properties of optically thin marine low clouds over the nonpolar oceans (60 deg S-60 deg N) are measured using 2 years of full-resolution nighttime data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Optically thin clouds, defined as the subset of marine low clouds that do not fully attenuate the lidar signal, comprise almost half of the low clouds over the marine domain. Regionally, the fraction of low clouds that are optically thin (f(sub thin,cld)) exhibits a strong inverse relationship with the low-cloud cover, with maxima in the tropical trades (f(sub thin,cld) greater than 0.8) and minima in regions of persistent marine stratocumulus and in midlatitudes (f(sub thin,cld) less than 0.3). Domain-wide, a power law fit describes the cloud length distribution, with exponent beta = 2.03 +/- 0.06 (+/-95% confidence interval). On average, the fraction of a cloud that is optically thin decreases from approximately 1 for clouds smaller than 2 km to less than 0.3 for clouds larger than 30 km. This relationship is found to be independent of region, so that geographical variations in the cloud length distribution explain three quarters of the variance in f(sub thin,cld). Comparing collocated trade cumulus observations from CALIOP and the airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar reveals that clouds with lengths smaller than are resolvable with CALIOP contribute approximately half of the low clouds in the region sampled. A bounded cascade model is constructed to match the observations from the trades. The model shows that the observed optically thin cloud behavior is consistent with a power law scaling of cloud optical depth and suggests that most optically thin clouds only partially fill the CALIOP footprint.

Leahy, L. V.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Entrainment into a stratocumulus layer with distributed radiative cooling

It is shown that the radiative cooling of a cloud layer strongly influences the turbulent flux profiles and the entrainment rate, and that the radiative cooling should be modeled as acting inside the turbulent layer. Numerical experiments demonstrate that a cloud-topped mixed-layer model, similar to that of Lilly (1968), is quite sensitive to delta (p) sub R, the depth of the radiatively cooled layer near cloud top. As delta (p) sub R increases, the model's sensitivity to the entrainment assumption is markedly heightened; for large delta (p) sub R the cloud top and cloud base rise as the entrainment parameter k is increased, while for small delta (p) sub R an increase in k has almost no effect. The model is most sensitive to delta (p) sub R for the cold-water, strong-divergence regime of greatest interest.

Randall, D. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Comparison and calibration of NCAR electra instruments: July 5 and 7, 1987

Measurements of temperature, water vapor, cloud liquid water, and lidar cloud height taken by the National Center for Aeronautical Research (NCAR) Electra are analyzed for two days of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) stratocumulus field program. Examination of instrument time series, correlations between sensors, soundings through the layer, and lidar measurements of cloud base height are used to correct sensor offset problems, check for probe wetting, and choose the most accurate measurements of temperature, humidity, and cloud liquid water.

Austin, Philip H.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Diurnal variation of marine stratocumulus over San Nicolas Island during the FIRE IFO

Preliminary analysis was made of data collected at San Nicolas Island during the Intensive Field Observation (IFO) phase of the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program's Regional Experiment (FIRE). Of particular interest was an examination of a distinct diurnal variation in the cloud properties, despite an apparent absence of diurnal forcing from the surface. Direct or indirect radiative modulation of such clouds, as proposed by Fravalo at el. (1981) and Turton and Nicholls (1987) indeed seems likely. Preliminary observational evidence for diurnal change in the marine stratocumulus adjacent to San Nicolas Island is presented. A comparison is then made between the observed behavior and predictions from theoretical models of the interactive effect of radiation on boundary layer clouds.

Davies, R.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Reflectivities of uniform and broken layered clouds

Differences between the reflectivities of uniform layered clouds and of broken clouds taken from the same layers of the Californian coast were investigated using 1 km data obtained by the AVHRRs on the NOAA-9 and -10 satellites during the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observations (June 29 - July 18, 1987). The reflectivities are compared at 0.63 micron, where cloud droplets are nonabsorbing, and at 3.7 micron, where the cloud droplets absorb and the single-scattering albedo is about 0.9. It was found that, at visible wavelengths, the reflectivities of broken clouds were only 80-85 percent of those of the same clouds where they formed regions of extensive uniform layers. The radiation not reflected was transmitted to the surface. The results suggest that the presatellite estimates of the planetary albedo may be too large because they failed to allow for the effects of cloud boundaries on cloud reflectivities.

Coakley, James A., Jr.↗

DOE OSTI2021

Quantifying and attributing time step sensitivities in present-day climate simulations conducted with EAMv1

Abstract. This study assesses the relative importance of time integration error in present-day climate simulations conducted with the atmosphere component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 1 (EAMv1) at 1∘ horizontal resolution. We show that a factor-of-6 reduction of time step size in all major parts of the model leads to significant changes in the long-term mean climate. Examples of changes in 10-year mean zonal averages include the following: up to 0.5 K of warming in the lower troposphere and cooling in the tropical and subtropical upper troposphere, 1 %–10 % decreases in relative humidity throughout the troposphere, and 10 %–20 % decreases in cloud fraction in the upper troposphere and decreases exceeding 20 % in the subtropical lower troposphere. In terms of the 10-year mean geographical distribution, systematic decreases of 20 %–50 % are seen in total cloud cover and cloud radiative effects in the subtropics. These changes imply that the reduction of temporal truncation errors leads to a notable although unsurprising degradation of agreement between the simulated and observed present-day climate; to regain optimal climate fidelity in the absence of those truncation errors, the model would require retuning. A coarse-grained attribution of the time step sensitivities is carried out by shortening time steps used in various components of EAM or by revising the numerical coupling between some processes. Our analysis leads to the finding that the marked decreases in the subtropical low-cloud fraction and total cloud radiative effect are caused not by the step size used for the collectively subcycled turbulence, shallow convection, and stratiform cloud macrophysics and microphysics parameterizations but rather by the step sizes used outside those subcycles. Further analysis suggests that the coupling frequency between the subcycles and the rest of EAM significantly affects the subtropical marine stratocumulus decks, while deep convection has significant impacts on trade cumulus. The step size of the cloud macrophysics and microphysics subcycle itself appears to have a primary impact on cloud fraction in the upper troposphere and also in the midlatitude near-surface layers. Impacts of step sizes used by the dynamical core and the radiation parameterization appear to be relatively small. These results provide useful clues for future studies aiming at understanding and addressing the root causes of sensitivities to time step sizes and process coupling frequencies in EAM. While this study focuses on EAMv1 and the conclusions are likely model-specific, the presented experimentation strategy has general value for weather and climate model development, as the methodology can help researchers identify and understand sources of time integration error in sophisticated multi-component models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

NASA NTRS1996

Radiative Effects of Aerosols

During the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) in June 1992, two descents in cloud-free regions allowed comparison of the change in aerosol optical depth as determined by an onboard total-direct-diffuse radiometer (TDDR) to the change calculated from measured size-resolved aerosol microphysics and chemistry. Both profiles included a pollution haze from Europe but the second also included the effect of a Saharan dust layer above the haze. The separate contributions of supermicrometer (coarse) and submicrometer (fine) aerosol were determined and thermal analysis of the pollution haze indicated that the fine aerosol was composed primarily of a sulfate/water mixture with a refractory soot-like core. The soot core increased the calculated extinction by about 10% in the most polluted drier layer relative to a pure sulfate aerosol but had significantly less effect at higher humidities. A 3 km descent through a boundary layer air mass dominated by pollutant aerosol with relative humidities (RH) 10-77% yielded a close agreement between the measured and calculated aerosol optical depths (550 nm) of 0.160 (+/- 0.07) and 0. 157 (+/- 0.034) respectively. During descent the aerosol mass scattering coefficient per unit sulfate mass varied from about 5 to 16 m(exp 2)/g and primarily dependent upon ambient RH. However, the total scattering coefficient per total fine mass was far less variable at about 4+/- 0.7 m(exp 2)/g. A subsequent descent through a Saharan dust layer located above the pollution aerosol layer revealed that both layers contributed similarly to aerosol optical depth. The scattering per unit mass of the coarse aged dust was estimated at 1.1 +/- 0.2 m(exp 2)/g. The large difference (50%) in measured and calculated optical depth for the dust layer exceeded measurements.

Valero, Francisco P. J.↗

NASA NTRS1997

Radiative Effects of Aerosols

Valero, Francisco P. J.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Satellite-inferred morning-to-evening cloudiness changes

Outgoing infrared radiation values inferred from radiance measurements in the water vapor window taken at approximately 0900 and 2100 LT by scanning radiometers aboard the polar orbiting NOAA satellites are compared in order to determine whether a significant diurnal variation exists. Data with a resolution of 2.5 deg in latitude and longitude are mapped for latitudes between 50 deg N and 50 deg S for two seasons, June-August 1975 and December 1975-February 1976. Over land regions and coastal waters it is found that the 12-h differences in outgoing IR are dominated by middle and high clouds, likely of convective origin. Over the tropical oceans there is evidence of a morning bias in high cloudiness (possibly of convective origin) and low cloudiness (stratus, stratocumulus and trade wind cumulus), and an evening bias in middle cloudiness. Because of the compensation between these three cloud regimes the net morning to evening differences in outgoing IR are rather small except over the eastern oceans where the low cloud regime predominates and tends to produce a weak but statistically significant evening maximum.

Short, D. A.↗