Andrea Simpson - andrea.simpson@physics.ox.ac.uk
Abstract: Impressive advances with organized convection processes have been made over the past halfcentury, notably mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), but the absence of organized convection GCMs is a major deficiency. The multiscale coherent structure paradigm (MCSP), a unique dynamical treatment of organized convection for GCMs, is based on the existence of coherent structures in turbulent environments (Moncrieff, Liu & Bogenschutz 2017; Moncrieff 2019, 2022).
TRMM satellite measurements show MCSs provide up to 70% of tropical precipitation (above left). Effects of MCSP on NCAR CAM in the form of (a) momentum transport, (b) latent heating, and (c) total effects provide a proof-of-concept. Large-scale precipitation patterns in the western Pacific tropical warm-pool and maritime continent regions are generated, the ITCZ/SPCZ activity is prominent (above right), and the MJO and convectively coupled equatorial waves (Moncrieff, Liu & Bogenschutz 2017). Implementation in the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and in the DOE Energy Earth System Model (E3SM) indicate further improvements (Chen et al. 2021). MCSP development is ongoing, an includes implementation in the Unified Model (UM). Implications for the treatment of atmospheric convection and related processes in next-generation GCMs and the weather-climate intersection are integral parts of the presentation.
Chen, C.-C, J. H. Richter, C. Liu, M. W. Moncrieff, Q. Tang, W. Lin, S. Xie and P. J. Rasch, 2021: Effects of organized convection parameterization on the MJO and precipitation in E3SMv1. Part I: Mesoscale heating. JAMES, doi:10.1029/2020MS002401.
Moncrieff, M.W, 2019: Toward a dynamical foundation for organized convection parameterization in GCMs. GRL, 46, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL085316.
Moncrieff, M.W., 2022: Organized convection parameterization for GCMs, Studies of Cloud, Convection and Precipitation Processes Using Satellite Observations, Lectures in Climate Change, World Scientific, Eds. Johnny Luo, George Tselioudis, and William B. Rossow, https://doi.org/10.1142/9789811256912_0011.
Moncrieff, M.W., C. Liu, and P. Bogenschutz, 2017: Simulation, modeling and dynamically based parameterization of organized tropical convection for global climate models. J. Atmos. Sci., 74, 1363-1380, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-16-0166.1.