Improvement of the GEOS-5 AGCM upon updating the Air-Sea Roughness Parameterization

The impact of an air-sea roughness parameterization over the ocean that more closely matches recent observations of air-sea exchange is examined in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System, version 5 (GEOS-5) atmospheric general circulation model. Surface wind biases in the GEOS-5 AGCM are decreased by up to 1.2m/s. The new parameterization also has implications aloft as improvements extend into the stratosphere. Many other GCMs (both for operational weather forecasting and climate) use a similar class of parameterization for their air-sea roughness scheme. We therefore expect that results from GEOS-5 are relevant to other models as well.

Citation: Garfinkel, C. I.,A. M. Molod, L. D. Oman, and I.-S. Song (2011), Improvement of the GEOS-5 AGCM upon updating the air-sea roughness parameterization,Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L18702, doi:10.1029/2011GL048802.