Applying Multi-sensor and ECMWF Analyses to Characterize and Evaluate Cloud, Convection and Radiation Processes in Numerical Models

Representing clouds, convections and their radiative processes in numerical weather and regional/global climate models remains a challenge. Recently, more and more satellite data (e.g., CloudSat, CALIPSO, AIRS,AMSR, CERES, MODIS and GPS etc) and analyses (ECMWF-YOTC/INTERIM) are available to characterize and evaluate the key relevant physical parameters and processes in numerical models. The aim of our analysis is to more effectively develop and constrain model representations of clouds and convection and their radiative properties. In this presentation, we will highlight the results from the comparisons between cloud, convection, and precipitation statistics as well as the estimation of the radiative impact of ice mass in convective clouds and precipitation. We found that the exclusion of convective and precipitating components of large atmospheric ice can result in significant short and long wave radiative fluxes as well as column radiative heating (up to 0.25o day-1 ) differences in the most convective and rainfall intensive areas. Implications of these results are that for models that exclude these ice components in their radiation calculations may be achieving TOA radiation balance through compensating errors as well as introducing atmospheric circulation biases implied from sensitivity tests using a WRF regional model.