A comparison of the NCEP forecast model with SHEBA observations

Global climate models have poor performance in the Arctic region due to their inability to adequately represent Arctic cloud systems and cloud/atmosphere/surface albedo radiative interactions. Their parameterizations of clouds, radiation, and other processes were developed for the environments vastly different from the Arctic. In this research a single-column model based on the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast Model is adopted and compared with observations from the Surface HEat Budget of the Arctic Ocean Experiment (SHEBA). The model's performance in simulating Arctic boundary layer and Arctic cloud processes under different atmospheric condition is evaluated.