A Cloud-Resolving Model with an Adaptive Vertical Grid for Boundary Layer Clouds

Abstract

Abstract Accurate cloud-resolving model simulations of cloud cover and cloud water content for boundary layer clouds are difficult to achieve without vertical grid spacing well below 100 m, especially for inversion-topped stratocumulus. The need for fine vertical grid spacing presents a significant impediment to global or large regional simulations using cloud-resolving models, including the Multiscale Modeling Framework (MMF), in which a two-dimensional or small three-dimensional cloud-resolving model is embedded into each grid cell of a global climate model in place of more traditional cloud parameterizations. One potential solution to this problem is to use a model with an adaptive vertical grid (i.e., a model that is able to add vertical layers where and when needed) rather than trying to use a fixed grid with fine vertical spacing throughout the boundary layer. This article examines simulations with an adaptive vertical grid for three well-studied stratocumulus cases based on observations from the second Dynamics and Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus (DYCOMS-II) experiment, the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX), and the Atlantic Trade Cumulus Experiment (ATEX). For each case, three criteria are examined for determining where to add or remove vertical layers. One criterion is based on the domain-averaged potential temperature profile; the other two are based on the ratio of the estimated subgrid-scale to total water flux and turbulent kinetic energy. The results of the adaptive vertical grid simulations are encouraging in that these simulations are able to produce results similar to simulations using fine vertical grid spacing throughout the boundary layer, while using many fewer vertical layers.