A Global Survey of Rotating Convective Updrafts in the GFDL X‐SHiELD 2021 Global Storm Resolving Model

Abstract

AbstractWe present the global characteristics of rotating convective updrafts in the 2021 version of GFDL's eXperimental System for High‐resolution prediction on Earth‐to‐Local Domains (X‐SHiELD), a kilometer‐scale global storm resolving model (GSRM). Rotation is quantified using 2–5 km Updraft Helicity (UH) in a year‐long integration forced by analyzed SSTs. Updrafts with UH magnitudes above 50 m2 s−2 are common over the mid‐latitude continents, where they are associated with severe weather especially in the warm seasons but are also common over most tropical ocean basins. In nearly all areas cyclonically rotating convection dominates, with larger UH values increasingly preferring cyclonic rotation. The ratio of cyclonic to anticyclonic updrafts is largest in the subtropical and mid‐latitude oceans and is slightly lower over mid‐latitude continents. The ratio of cyclonic to anticyclonic updrafts can be substantively explained by the mean storm‐relative helicity (SRH) in convective regions, indicating the importance for environmental controls on the sense of storm rotation, although internal storm dynamics also plays a role in the generation of anticyclonic updrafts.