87th AMS Annual Meeting

Thursday, 18 January 2007: 12:00 AM
Parameterizing organized convection for climate models (Invited)
206B (Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center)
Brian Mapes, Univ. of Miami/RSMAS, Miami, FL; and R. B. Neale
Mesoscale organization is essentially always observed in deep convection, yet the relevant scales are not resolved in climate models. Is there a connection between problems in climate simulations and the missing mesoscale? If so, what effects are crucial vs. merely cosmetic? The talk will review concepts and hypotheses that inform our current efforts to sensibly utilize a simple prognostic "organization" variable in the Community Atmosphere Model. Some important effects of organization can be captured within the framework of existing entraining plume constructs, and their impacts on model performance should be at least partly clear by the time of the meeting.

Supplementary URL: