the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Combining Regional Mesh Refinement With Vertically Enhanced Physics to Target Marine Stratocumulus Biases
- 1Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
- 2Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- 3NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories, Chemical Science Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
- 1Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
- 2Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
- 3NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories, Chemical Science Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Abstract. In this paper we develop a novel framework aimed to significantly reduce biases related to marine stratocumulus clouds in general circulation models (GCMs) while circumventing excessive computational cost requirements. Our strategy is to increase the horizontal resolution using a regionally refined mesh (RRM) over our region of interest in addition to using the Framework for Improvement of Vertical Enhancement (FIVE) to increase the vertical resolution only for specific physical processes that are important for stratocumulus. We apply the RRM off the coast of Peru in the Southeast Pacific, a region that climatologically contains the most marine stratocumulus in the subtropics. We find that our new modeling framework is able to replicate the results of our high resolution benchmark simulation with much fidelity, while reducing the computational cost by several orders of magnitude. In addition, this framework is able to greatly reduce the longstanding biases associated with marine stratocmulus in GCMs when compared to the standard resolution control simulation.
Peter A. Bogenschutz et al.
Status: open (until 19 Oct 2022)
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CEC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-175', Astrid Kerkweg, 18 Aug 2022
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Dear authors,
in my role as Executive editor of GMD, I would like to bring to your attention our Editorial version 1.2: https://www.geosci-model-dev.net/12/2215/2019/
This highlights some requirements of papers published in GMD, which is also available on the GMD website in the ‘Manuscript Types’ section: http://www.geoscientific-model-development.net/submission/manuscript_types.html
In particular, please note that for your paper, the following requirements have not been met in the Discussions paper:
- "The main paper must give the model name and version number (or other unique identifier) in the title."
- “If the model development relates to a single model then the model name and the version number must be included in the title of the paper. If the main intention of an article is to make a general (i.e. model independent) statement about the usefulness of a new development, but the usefulness is shown with the help of one specific model, the model name and version number must be stated in the title. The title could have a form such as, “Title outlining amazing generic advance: a case study with Model XXX (version Y)”.''
So E3SM-FIVE including a version number / identifier should be added to the title of the article. Please add this change when submitting the revised version of the manuscript.
Additionally, the GMD editorial states about Model experiment description papers: "The primary purpose of these papers is to enable modelling communities to perform the same experiments. Therefore, everything required to run the experiment must be provided, apart from the model itself." (GMD Editorial main text, see also appendix B4)
I do not see that your article is about a model experiment which is performed by a larger community with different models. Therefore, your paper fits better the "Technical and development paper" type and I will ask the editorial office to apply this type to your article.
Yours, Astrid Kerkweg
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RC1: 'Comment on gmd-2022-175', Anonymous Referee #1, 20 Sep 2022
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Bogenschutz et al. have presented a novel GCM framework that combines regional mesh refinement with vertically enhanced physics to improve simulated marine stratocumulus. The study addresses advancement in GCM and cloud modeling, which is well within the scope of GMD. Although previous studies have explored and documented the performance of regional mesh refinement and vertically enhanced physics separately in GCMs, the combination of the two is new. Therefore, this study presents a sufficiently substantial advance in modeling science. The paper is clearly written, well structured, and easy to follow. The conclusion, mainly that their novel framework can reproduce high resolution benchmark simulation with substantially lower computational cost, is well supported by the results.
I only have a few comments below:
L195-200: How is “low level cloud” defined?
L230-235: Presumably, Figure 5b shows the global impact of reduced SEP Sc bias. For example, it shows an increased low cloud amount along the ITCZ. Although it is not within the scope of this paper to discuss the global impact of reduced Sc bias, it would be helpful to provide information on whether the differences we see on Figure 5 are significant. This can help guide future work.
L290: In general, I would like to see more discussion on the mechanisms behind the improvement in SEP-RRM-FIVE. What processes lead to improved Sc with FIVE and with RRM respectively? Here the authors touched on turbulence and cloud top feedback. More detailed discussion would be appreciated.
L315-320: The presence of positive and negative bias along the coast in DJF, MMA, and SON in FIVE simulations suggests that the location of the Sc deck is shifted north of the observed Sc. Is this the case? If so, does it suggest that the bias is related to large-scale circulation instead of BL processes?
L330: “further refinement of the vertical grid in VEP could lead to additional improvements”, are there studies to support this claim?
Peter A. Bogenschutz et al.
Peter A. Bogenschutz et al.
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