The diurnal cycle of the near surface temperature, wind and surface exchange in the NCAR CCSM

The heat exchange at the surface is an important process in a climate model. For a climate model, the temperature climate is an important output and is always compared with observations. This is normally only done for monthly or annual averages. Here, the main emphasis of the evaluation is on the diurnal cycle as well as turbulent quantities and surface exchange of heat and momentum. Also, the vertical structure and the height of the boundary layer is analyzed and compared with available observations. Model results for present climate simulation are investigated and compared with surface and tower observations from various regions of the Earth. Observational datasets with multiyear turbulent flux observations are utilized. The data has been used when evaluating the CCSM land model in a of-line mode – here it is the coupled performance that is examined.