A multimodel intercomparison of resolution effects on precipitation: simulations and theory

Rauscher, Sara A.; O’Brien, T. A.; Piani, C.; Coppola, Erika; Giorgi, Filippo; Collins, William D.; Lawston, Patricia M.

doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2959-5

Cited by 55 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Several studies have shown that this “what goes up, must go down” approximation holds empirically for relatively strong precipitation events: Rauscher et al . [] demonstrate this directly, Emori [] show that precipitation is a linear function of ω + , and Sardeshmukh et al . [] show that this can explain the connection between probability distributions of vertical velocity and precipitation.…”

Section: Resolved Updrafts Drive the Increase In Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following Rauscher et al . [], we assume that precipitation rate R is approximately balanced by the cloud‐base upward mass flux M b , such that

R \approx g^{- 1} ω^{+} q^{+}

, where g is gravitational acceleration, ω + is upward vertical velocity in pressure coordinate, and q + is the specific humidity in the updraft region. Several studies have shown that this “what goes up, must go down” approximation holds empirically for relatively strong precipitation events: Rauscher et al .…”

Section: Resolved Updrafts Drive the Increase In Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rauscher et al . [] show that daily precipitation statistics are more realistic in a multimodel ensemble of regional climate simulations at 25 km resolution than at 50 km resolution, and they provide a theoretical explanation for this behavior (see section 4). It is abundantly clear from the literature that increasing horizontal resolution results in more intense precipitation in a wide variety of models and simulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…We also provide further evidence that the resolution‐dependence theory of Rauscher et al . [] explains the resolution‐dependent increase in precipitation that has been widely noted in the literature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Analysis of 5 years of daily 5 day hindcasts with the Community Earth System Model at horizontal resolutions of 220, 110, and 28 km shows that: (1) these hindcasts reproduce the resolution‐dependent increase of extreme precipitation that has been identified in longer‐duration simulations, (2) the correspondence between simulated and observed extreme precipitation improves as resolution increases; and (3) this increase in extremes and precipitation fidelity comes entirely from resolved‐scale precipitation. Evidence is presented that this resolution‐dependent increase in precipitation intensity can be explained by the theory of Rauscher et al (), which states that precipitation intensifies at high resolution due to an interaction between the emergent scaling (spectral) properties of the wind field and the constraint of fluid continuity.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resolution dependence of precipitation statistical fidelity in hindcast simulations

O’Brien

Collins

Kashinath

et al. 2016

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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Numerous studies have shown that atmospheric models with high horizontal resolution better represent the physics and statistics of precipitation in climate models. While it is abundantly clear from these studies that high‐resolution increases the rate of extreme precipitation, it is not clear whether these added extreme events are “realistic”; whether they occur in simulations in response to the same forcings that drive similar events in reality. In order to understand whether increasing horizontal resolution results in improved model fidelity, a hindcast‐based, multiresolution experimental design has been conceived and implemented: the InitiaLIzed‐ensemble, Analyze, and Develop (ILIAD) framework. The ILIAD framework allows direct comparison between observed and simulated weather events across multiple resolutions and assessment of the degree to which increased resolution improves the fidelity of extremes. Analysis of 5 years of daily 5 day hindcasts with the Community Earth System Model at horizontal resolutions of 220, 110, and 28 km shows that: (1) these hindcasts reproduce the resolution‐dependent increase of extreme precipitation that has been identified in longer‐duration simulations, (2) the correspondence between simulated and observed extreme precipitation improves as resolution increases; and (3) this increase in extremes and precipitation fidelity comes entirely from resolved‐scale precipitation. Evidence is presented that this resolution‐dependent increase in precipitation intensity can be explained by the theory of Rauscher et al. (), which states that precipitation intensifies at high resolution due to an interaction between the emergent scaling (spectral) properties of the wind field and the constraint of fluid continuity.

show abstract

Section: Resolved Updrafts Drive the Increase In Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Following Rauscher et al . [], we assume that precipitation rate R is approximately balanced by the cloud‐base upward mass flux M b , such that

R \approx g^{- 1} ω^{+} q^{+}

Section: Resolved Updrafts Drive the Increase In Extremesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Resolution dependence of precipitation statistical fidelity in hindcast simulations

O’Brien

Collins

Kashinath

et al. 2016

J Adv Model Earth Syst

Self Cite

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show abstract

Sensitivities of the hydrologic cycle to model physics, grid resolution, and ocean type in the aquaplanet Community Atmosphere Model

Benedict

Medeiros

Clement

et al. 2017

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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Precipitation distributions and extremes play a fundamental role in shaping Earth's climate and yet are poorly represented in many global climate models. Here, a suite of idealized Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) aquaplanet simulations is examined to assess the aquaplanet's ability to reproduce hydroclimate statistics of real‐Earth configurations and to investigate sensitivities of precipitation distributions and extremes to model physics, horizontal grid resolution, and ocean type. Little difference in precipitation statistics is found between aquaplanets using time‐constant sea‐surface temperatures and those implementing a slab ocean model with a 50 m mixed‐layer depth. In contrast, CAM version 5.3 (CAM5.3) produces more time mean, zonally averaged precipitation than CAM version 4 (CAM4), while CAM4 generates significantly larger precipitation variance and frequencies of extremely intense precipitation events. The largest model configuration‐based precipitation sensitivities relate to choice of horizontal grid resolution in the selected range 1–2°. Refining grid resolution has significant physics‐dependent effects on tropical precipitation: for CAM4, time mean zonal mean precipitation increases along the Equator and the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) narrows, while for CAM5.3 precipitation decreases along the Equator and the twin branches of the ITCZ shift poleward. Increased grid resolution also reduces light precipitation frequencies and enhances extreme precipitation for both CAM4 and CAM5.3 resulting in better alignment with observational estimates. A discussion of the potential implications these hydrologic cycle sensitivities have on the interpretation of precipitation statistics in future climate projections is also presented.

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Simulation of Precipitation Extremes Using a Stochastic Convective Parameterization in the NCAR CAM5 Under Different Resolutions

Wang

Zhang

2017

JGR Atmospheres

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With the incorporation of the Plant‐Craig stochastic deep convection scheme into the Zhang‐McFarlane deterministic parameterization in the Community Atmospheric Model version 5 (CAM5), its impact on extreme precipitation at different resolutions (2°, 1°, and 0.5°) is investigated. CAM5 with the stochastic deep convection scheme (experiment (EXP)) simulates the precipitation extreme indices better than the standard version (control). At 2° and 1° resolutions, EXP increases high percentile (>99th) daily precipitation over the United States, Europe, and China, resulting in a better agreement with observations. However, at 0.5° resolution, due to enhanced grid‐scale precipitation with increasing resolution, EXP overestimates extreme precipitation over southeastern U.S. and eastern Europe. The reduced biases in EXP at each resolution benefit from a broader probability distribution function of convective precipitation intensity simulated. Among EXP simulations at different resolutions, if the spatial averaging area over which input quantities used in convective closure are spatially averaged in the stochastic convection scheme is comparable, the modeled convective precipitation intensity decreases with increasing resolution, when gridded to the same resolution, while the total precipitation is not sensitive to model resolution, exhibiting some degree of scale‐awareness. Sensitivity tests show that for the same resolution, increasing the size of spatial averaging area decreases convective precipitation but increases the grid‐scale precipitation.

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A multimodel intercomparison of resolution effects on precipitation: simulations and theory

Cited by 55 publications

References 43 publications

Resolution dependence of precipitation statistical fidelity in hindcast simulations

Resolution dependence of precipitation statistical fidelity in hindcast simulations

Sensitivities of the hydrologic cycle to model physics, grid resolution, and ocean type in the aquaplanet Community Atmosphere Model

Simulation of Precipitation Extremes Using a Stochastic Convective Parameterization in the NCAR CAM5 Under Different Resolutions

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