Simulations of a Cold Front by Cloud-Resolving, Limited-Area, and Large-Scale Models, and a Model Evaluation Using In Situ and Satellite Observations (original) (raw)

2000, Monthly Weather Review

The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment has identified the poor representation of clouds in atmospheric general circulation models as one of the major impediments for the use of these models in reliably predicting future climate change. One of the most commonly encountered types of cloud system in midlatitudes is that associated with cyclones. The purpose of this study is to investigate the representation of frontal cloud systems in a hierarchy of models in order to identify their relative weaknesses. The hierarchy of models was classified according to the horizontal resolution: cloud-resolving models (5-km resolution), limited-area models (20-km resolution), coarse-grid single-column models (300 km), and an atmospheric general circulation model (Ͼ100 km). The models were evaluated using both in situ and satellite data.