Modeling atmospheric boundary layers for climate studies

The modeling and prediction of the atmospheric boundary layer is a persistent problematic feature in studies of weather, climate and air quality. In this talk an overview will be given of recent modifications made in the boundary layer formulation of the NCAR Community Atmospheric Climate Model. Impacts will be discussed of an explicit entrainment formulation in the dry convective boundary layer. Also results will be discussed of the impacts of increasing the vertical resolution near the surface of the earth, in particular for stably stratified conditions. It appears that these modifications do show an improvement in the overall representation although major difficulties remain.