Grell Scheme Research Articles

Performance of convective parameterization schemes in Asia using RegCM: Simulations in three typical regions for the period 1998–2002

This study discusses the sensitivity of convective parameterization schemes (CPSs) in the Regional Climate Model (version 4.3) (RegCM4.3) over East/South Asia. The simulations using different CPSs in RegCM are compared to discover a suitable scheme for this region, as the performance of different schemes is greatly influenced by region and seasonality. Over Southeast China and the Bay of Bengal, the Grell scheme exhibits the lowest RMSEs of summer precipitation compared to observed data. Moreover, the Emanuel over land and Grell over ocean (ELGO) scheme enhances the simulation, in comparison with any single CPS (Grell/Emanuel) over Western Ghats, Sri Lanka, and Southeast India. Over the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain (3H) and Tibetan Plateau (TP) regions of China, the Tiedtke scheme simulates the more reasonable summer precipitation with high correlation coefficient and comparable amplitude. Especially, it reproduces a minimum convective precipitation bias of 8 mm d−1 and the lowest RMSEs throughout the year over East/South Asia. Furthermore, for seasonal variation of precipitation, the Tiedtke scheme results are closer to the observed data over the 3H and TP regions. However, none of the CPSs is able to simulate the seasonal variation over North Pakistan (NP). In comparison with previous research, the results of this study support the Grell scheme over South Asia. However, the Tiedtke scheme shows superiority for the 3H, TP and NP regions. The thicker PBL, less surface latent heat flux, the unique ability of deep convection and the entrainment process in the Tiedtke scheme are responsible for reducing the wet bias.

Effects of cumulus parameterizations on predictions of summer flood in the Central United States

This study comprehensively evaluates the effects of twelve cumulus parameterization (CUP) schemes on simulations of 1993 and 2008 Central US summer floods using the regional climate-weather research and forecasting model. The CUP schemes have distinct skills in predicting the summer mean pattern, daily rainfall frequency and precipitation diurnal cycle. Most CUP schemes largely underestimate the magnitude of Central US floods, but three schemes including the ensemble cumulus parameterization (ECP), the Grell-3 ensemble cumulus parameterization (G3) and Zhang-McFarlane-Liang cumulus parameterization (ZML) show clear advantages over others in reproducing both floods location and amount. In particular, the ECP scheme with the moisture convergence closure over land and cloud-base vertical velocity closure over oceans not only reduces the wet biases in the G3 and ZML schemes along the US coastal oceans, but also accurately reproduces the Central US daily precipitation variation and frequency distribution. The Grell (GR) scheme shows superiority in reproducing the Central US nocturnal rainfall maxima, but others generally fail. This advantage of GR scheme is primarily due to its closure assumption in which the convection is determined by the tendency of large-scale instability. Future study will attempt to incorporate the large-scale tendency assumption as a trigger function in the ECP scheme to improve its prediction of Central US rainfall diurnal cycle.

Simulations of summer monsoon climate over East Asia with a Regional Climate Model (RegCM) using Tiedtke convective parameterization scheme (CPS)

In this study, we implemented the Tiedtke convective parameterization scheme (CPS) into the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) and simulated the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) climate. A 6-year experiment was completed, from September 1996 through August 2002, and compared with an analogous experiment employing the Grell CPS option available in RegCM3. The ability of the model to represent the average climatology was investigated. Our results indicate that the Tiedtke CPS shows a generally good performance in describing surface climate and large-scale circulation throughout the summer monsoon period. Compared to the simulation with Grell CPS, the simulation with Tiedtke scheme shows a number of improvements, including a better distribution of summer monsoon precipitation due to a better positioning of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) in the middle troposphere and the southwesterly jet in the lower troposphere, and more realistic seasonal evolution of the monsoon precipitation. The cold surface air temperature bias characteristic frequently seen in Grell scheme over this region is also reduced. Generally, the Tiedtke scheme simulates warm and wet atmospheric conditions in the middle and lower tropospheres, a result more in agreement with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) 40Years analysis (ERA-40). The Tiedtke scheme is more prone to activate convection in the lower troposphere than the Grell scheme due to more moist static energy available for activating and supporting the development of convection systems.

Modelling the re-intensification of tropical storm Erin (2007) over Oklahoma: understanding the key role of downdraft formulation

ABSTRACTThis article reports on the inland re-intensification of tropical storm (TS) Erin (2007). In this research, the physical processes that resulted in the re-intensification of TS Erin over Oklahoma, USA, on 19 August 2007 was determined and a sensitivity study on microphysics, planetary boundary layer and convective parameterisation schemes was performed in the mesoscale modelling system, MM5. Also, we diagnosed and explained the remarkable difference between model behaviour of the original Kain–Fritsch 1 (KF1) scheme and its revised counterpart (KF2). The numerical results showed only modest sensitivity to the selected microphysics schemes – the relatively simple ‘Simple Ice’ and the advanced Reisner-Graupel. We found a relatively high sensitivity to the selected boundary layer parameterisation. Enhanced mixing in the medium range forecast (MRF) scheme leads to a relatively small convective available potential energy (CAPE), a deeper boundary layer and a lower dew point temperature, thus to a relatively stable environment. Therefore, MRF forecasts less precipitation (up to 150 mm) than the local mixing scheme, ETA. Model results appeared most sensitive to the selected convection schemes, that is, Grell, KF1 and KF2. With Grell and KF1, Erin intensifies and produces intense precipitation, but its structure remains close to a mesoscale convective system (MCS) or squall line rather than of the observed tropical cyclone. Both schemes also simulate the most intense precipitation too far south (100 km) compared to observations. On the contrary, KF2 underestimates precipitation, but the track of the convection, the precipitation and the pressure distribution are relatively close to radar and field observations. A sensitivity study reveals that the downdraft formulation is critical to modelling TS Erin's dynamics. Within tropical cyclogenesis, the mid-level relative humidity (RH) is generally very high, resulting in very small downdrafts. KF2 generates hardly any downdrafts due to its dependence on mid-level RH. However, KF1 and Grell generate much stronger downdrafts because they both relate the downdraft mass flux (DMF) to vertical wind shear. This larger DMF then completely alters TS Erin's dynamics. A modified version of the Grell scheme with KF2 RH-dependent downdraft formulation improved the simulation considerably, with better resemblance to observations on trajectory, radar reflectivity and system structure.

An assessment of cumulus parameterization schemes in the short range prediction of rainfall during the onset phase of the Indian Southwest Monsoon using MM5 Model

The performance of cumulus parameterization schemes in the short range prediction of rainfall during onset phase of the Indian Southwest Monsoon (ISM) was evaluated using Fifth-Generation Pennsylvania State University / National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5). MM5 model was used to predict rainfall at 30km resolution up to 72h over the Indian subcontinent for each day during the period 1–30 June 2002, which corresponds to the onset phase of the ISM. Experiments were performed with 5 different cumulus parameterization schemes of Anthes–Kuo (AK), Grell (GR), Betts–Miller (BM), Kain–Fritsch (KF) and Kain–Fritsch2 (KF2). Rainfall prediction assessment was made over five zones through comparison with corresponding APHRODITE gridded precipitation data and for selected location with station observations by analyzing the statistical parameters of correlation coefficient, mean absolute error and Hanssen–Kuipers score. Monthly mean zone-wise rainfall was well predicted by GR and AK schemes up to 48hours and slight overestimation beyond. GR scheme predicted higher rainfall over west coast, central parts of India and low rainfall over southeast peninsula. BM and KF schemes showed overestimation with prediction of rainfall over dry southeast peninsula. All the schemes underestimated the coefficient of variability (CV) over all the five zones. AK and GR schemes had the mean and CV nearer to the APHRODITE observations, with AK scheme slightly better than GR scheme over Zones 1, 2 and 3 while GR scheme had the best agreement over Zones 4 and 5. GR scheme had also shown higher CC values and lower MAE over most of the zones up to 72h, while BM had the least predictability with lower CC and HK scores and higher MAE over most of the zones. Over Western Ghats, the uncertainty limits could be higher than shown due to dominant heavy rains. Of the ten stations selected for verification, GR scheme had shown better prediction with significant positive CC values at nine of the ten stations and consistently lower MAE values and higher HK scores. Further analysis has shown that GR scheme predicted higher grid-scale and nighttime rainfall agreeing with earlier studies concerning monsoon rainfall. All other schemes predicted the features contrarily with higher convective and daytime rainfall. GR scheme alone was found to have provided the best prediction considering the mean monthly, daily zone-wise and station rainfall predictions. The present study concludes that GR cumulus parameterization scheme is the most suitable at 30km resolution.

Sensitivity of the GCM driven summer monsoon simulations to cumulus parameterization schemes in nested RegCM3

The regional climate model (RegCM3) from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics has been used to simulate the Indian summer monsoon for three different monsoon seasons such as deficit (1987), excess (1988) and normal (1989). Sensitivity to various cumulus parameterization and closure schemes of RegCM3 driven by the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting global spectral model products has been tested. The model integration of the nested RegCM3 is conducted using 90 and 30-km horizontal resolutions for outer and inner domains, respectively. The India Meteorological Department gridded rainfall (1° × 1°) and National Centre for Environment Prediction (NCEP)–Department of Energy (DOE) reanalysis-2 of 2.5° × 2.5° horizontal resolution data has been used for verification. The RegCM3 forced by NCEP–DOE reanalysis-2 data simulates monsoon seasons of 1987 and 1988 reasonably well, but the monsoon season of 1989 is not represented well in the model simulations. The RegCM3 runs driven by the global model are able to bring out seasonal mean rainfall and circulations well with the use of the Grell and Anthes–Kuo cumulus scheme at 90-km resolution. While the rainfall intensity and distribution is brought out well with the Anthes–Kuo scheme, upper air circulation features are brought out better by the Grell scheme. The simulated rainfall distribution is better with RegCM3 using the MIT-Emanuel cumulus scheme for 30-km resolution. Several statistical analyses, such as correlation coefficient, root mean square error, equitable threat score, confirm that the performance of MIT-Emanuel scheme at 30-km resolution is better in simulating all-India summer monsoon rainfall. The RegCM3 simulated rainfall amount is more and closer to observations than that from the global model. The RegCM3 has corrected its driven GCM in terms of rainfall distribution and magnitude over some parts of India during extreme years. This study brings out several weaknesses of the RegCM model which are documented in this paper.

Regional climate simulations of summer diurnal rainfall variations over East Asia and Southeast China

This study evaluates the performance of RegCM3 (Regional Climate Model Version 3) in simulating the East Asian rainfall, with emphasis on the diurnal variations of rainfall over Southeast China during the 1998–2002 summer (June–August) seasons. The evaluation focuses on the sensitivity of the choice of cumulus parameterizations and model domain. With the right setup, the spatial and temporal evolution of diurnal rainfall over Southeast China, which has not been well simulated by past studies, can be accurately simulated by RegCM3. Results show that the Emanuel cumulus scheme has a more realistic simulation of summer mean rainfall in East Asia, while the GFC (Grell scheme with the Frisch-Chappell convective closure assumption) scheme is better in simulating the diurnal variations of rainfall over Southeast China. The better performance of these two schemes [relative to the other two schemes in RegCM3: the Kuo scheme and the GAS (Grell scheme with the Arakawa–Schubert closure assumption) scheme] can be attributed to the reasonable reproduction of the major formation mechanism of rainfall—the moisture flux convergence—over Southeast China. Furthermore, when the simulation domain covers the entire Tibetan Plateau, the diurnal variations of rainfall over Southeast China are found to exhibit a noticeable improvement without changes in the physics schemes.

Rainfall and temperature scenarios for Bangladesh for the middle of 21st century using RegCM

Regional Climate Model of version 3 (RegCM3) was driven with Emissions Scenarios A2 of ECHAM4 at 0.54 ◦ ×0.54 ◦ horizontal grid resolution in two parameterizations: Grell scheme with Arakawa–Schubert (GAS) and Fritch–Chappell (GFC) assumptions. The simulated rainfall and mean surface air temperature were calibrated and validated against ground-based observed data in Bangladesh during the period 1961–1990. The Climate Research Unit (CRU) data is also used for understanding the model performance. Better performance of RegCM3 obtained through validation process, made it confident in utilizing it in rainfall and temperature projection for Bangladesh in the middle of 21st century. Rainfall and mean surface air temperature projection for Bangladesh is experimentally obtained for 2050 and 2060. This work discloses that simulated rainfall and temperature are not directly useful in application-oriented tasks. However, after calibration and validation, reasonable performance can be obtained in estimating seasonal and annual rainfall, and mean surface air temperature in Bangladesh. The projected change of rainfall for Bangladesh is about +35% for monsoon season (JJAS), −67% for pre-monsoon (MAM), −12% for post-monsoon (ON) and 107% for winter (DJF) for 2050. On an average, rainfall may be less by more than 50% for all seasons for the year 2060. Similarly, change of mean surface air temperature in different months is projected about 0.5 ◦ –2.1 ◦ Ca nd 0.9 ◦ –3.5 ◦ C for the year 2050 and 2060, respectively.

Effects of RegCM3 parameterizations on simulated rainy season over South America

The impacts of change in the Grell convective scheme and biosphereatmosphere transfer scheme (BATS) in RegCM3 are described. Three numerical experiments (RegZhang, RegClaris and RegArain) are conducted to reduce the RegCM3-Grell rainfall underestimation over tropical South America. The simulation referred to as RegZhang follows modifications made by Zhang et al. (2008) in the BATS. The RegClaris combines the RegZhang BATS parameters with a reduction of water drainage at the bottom of the subsoil layer in the regions covered by the trop- ical rain forest and a shorter convective time period for the Grell scheme. The RegArain considers this same modification in the Grell scheme, but uses a deeper total soil column and a deeper root system in the BATS. After the first year of simulation, the soil water content in RegZhang is pro- gressively drained out of the soil column resulting in a deficit of rainfall in the Amazon. The RegClaris and RegArain, on the other hand, simulate a similar rainfall annual cycle in the Amazon, showing substantial improvement not only in phase but also in intensity. This improvement is par- tially related to an increase in evapotranspiration due to a larger availability of water in the soil column. A remote effect is also noted over the La Plata Basin region, where the larger summer rainfall rate may be related to the increase in moisture transport from the Amazon. Wind- and rain- fall-based indices are applied to identify South American monsoon (SAM) timing. The RegClaris rainfall rates are adequate to identify the onset and the demise of SAM according to the observed data, whereas the rainfall deficit in RegZhang is associated with a delay in the onset and an early demise of the SAM.

Simulation of Monsoon Precipitation over South-Asia Using RegCM3

The objective of this study is to explore the capability of the Regional Climate Model (RegCM3), to predict the extreme weather events in south-Asian region with particular reference to precipitation during monsoon season (July, August and September) over northern mountainous and southern plain regions of Pakistan. Different cumulus parameterization schemes in RegCM3 for prediction of convective precipitation are tested for monsoon period during the years 1998 and 2001. The model results are compared with the Climate Research Unit (CRU) observational data and the surface synoptic data of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). The year 1998 was a dry year and proved to be the beginning of a severe drought lasted up to the year 2000. While in year 2001 the precipitation over some parts of the country exceeded the normal, especially the northern parts of the country observed exceptionally high rainfall rate. The results indicate that some convective parameterization schemes of RegCM3 well captured the summer monsoon precipitation over Pakistan. However, the schemes need to be selected carefully depending upon the region of interest. It was found that the Grell scheme with both closures: Arakawa-Schubert (AS) and Fritsch-Chappell (FC) satisfactorily captured the monsoon phenomenon in Pakistan specially for the northern mountainous regions.

CORDEX 동아시아 영역에서 경계조건 및 적운모수화방안이 RegCM4를 이용한 남한 지역 기후모의에 미치는 영향 분석

본 연구에서는 CORDEX 동아시아 영역에서 경계조건(ERA-Interim, NCEP/DOE2) 및 적운모수화방안(Grell, Emanuel)이 2010년 7월에 공개된 지역기후모델(RegCM4)의 모의성능에 미치는 영향을 평가하기 위해 1989년에 대해 총 4개의 민감도 실험(EG, EE, NG, NE)을 수행하였다. 남한에서의 기온, 강수에 대한 RegCM4의 모의성능을 분석하기 위해 기상청의 기온, 강수자료를 이용하였다. RegCM4는 경계조건 및 적운모수화방안에 관계없이 기온의 공간분포, 계절변동을 잘 모의한 반면, 모든 실험에서 강수의 시 공간 분포를 적절히 모의하지 못하였다. 특히, EG, NG, NE 실험은 여름 강수를 관측보다 현저히 적게 모의하는 등 강수의 계절변동을 전혀 모의하지 못하고 있다. 하지만 EE 실험에서는 여름 강수를 포함하여 계절변동을 상대적으로 잘 모의하였다. 동아시아 여름 몬순 및 강수강도별 강수량, 강수빈도 모의에서도 EE 실험이 우수한 모의성능을 보였다. RegCM4는 경계조건에 관계없이 기온, 강수 모두 여름보다는 겨울에, Grell 보다는 Emanuel 방안을 적용할 때 높은 모의성능을 보였다. 또한 전체적으로 모의성능은 경계조건보다는 적운모수화방안에 더 큰 영향을 받는다. In this study, four types of sensitivity experiments (EG, EE, NG, NE; E: ERA-Interim, N: NCEP/DOE2, G: Grell scheme, E: Emanuel scheme) were performed to evaluate the simulation skills of RegCM4 released in July 2010 over the CORDEX (COordinated Regional Downscaling EXperiment) East Asia domain based on the combinations of boundary conditions (BC: ERA-Interim, NCEP/DOE2) and the cumulus parameterization schemes (CPS: Grell, Emanuel) for the 1989. The surface air temperature and precipitation data observed by the Korea Meteorological Adminstration were used to validate the simulation results over South Korea. The RegCM4 well simulates the seasonal and spatial variations of temperature but it fails to capture the seasonal and spatial variations of precipitation without consideration of the BC and CPS. Especially the simulated summer precipitation amount is significantly less in EG, NG, and NE experiments. But the seasonal variation of precipitation including summer precipitation is relatively well simulated in the EE experiment. The EE experiment shows a better skill in the seasonal march of East Asia summer monsoon, distribution of precipitation intensity and frequency than other experiments. In general, the skills of RegCM4 for temperature and precipitation are better during winter than summer, and in Emanuel than Grell schemes. The simulation results are more impacted by cumulus parameterization schemes than boundary conditions.

Sensitivity of regional climate simulations of the summer 1998 extreme rainfall to convective parameterization schemes

In this paper, a comparison study of three cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs), Kain-Fritsch2 (KF2), Grell (GR) and Anthes-Kuo (AK), is carried out using the Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research mesoscale model (i.e., MM5). The performances of three CPSs are examined in simulations of the long-term heavy Meiyu-frontal rainfall events over the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin (YRB-ML) during the summer of 1998. The initial and lateral boundary atmosphere conditions are taken from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/Department of Energy Reanalysis-2 (R-2) data. The experiment with KF2 scheme (EX_KF2) reproduces reasonably well the major rainfall events, especially the heavy rainfall over YRB-ML during the later stage, and the middle and lower troposphere circulation patterns. In contrast, the experiments with both GR and AK schemes (EX_GR and EX_AK) only simulate the heavy rainfall during the first Meiyu rainy phase with weak intensity, and almost miss the rainfall along YRB-ML during the second phase. The analyses show that the location of 500 hPa western Pacific subtropical high during the first rainy phase, the northward advance during the transition period and the retreat during the second rainy phase, observed from the R-2 data, are successfully captured by EX_KF2, compared to the poor performance of EX_GR and EX_AK. A reasonable proportion of the subgrid-scale rainfall and smaller biases of temperature and moisture from lower to middle troposphere in EX_KF2 decide its good rainfall simulations, in contrast with the absolutely high proportions and the cold and dry biases caused by the decreased vertically convective transportation and the weak southwesterly wind in EX_GR and EX_AK. Overall, the three CPSs show substantial intersimulation differences in rainfall as well as in three-dimensional atmospheric structures, and KF2 shows superior performances. The results suggest that the realistic subgrid-scale CPS is still highly required for the high-resolution regional climate models to simulate the heavy rainfall events.

Seasonal evaluation of rainfall estimation by four cumulus parameterization schemes and their sensitivity analysis

Sustainable water resources management require scientifically sound information on precipitation, as it plays a key role in hydrological responses in a catchment. In recent years, mesoscale weather models in conjunction with hydrological models have gained great attention as they can provide high-resolution downscaled weather variables. Many cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs) have been developed and incorporated into three-dimensional Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model 5 (MM5). This study has performed a comprehensive evaluation of four CPSs (the Anthes–Kuo, Grell, Betts–Miller and Kain–Fritsch93 schemes) to identify how their inclusion influences the mesoscale model's precipitation estimation capabilities. The study has also compared these four CPSs in terms of variability in rainfall estimation at various horizontal and vertical levels. For this purpose, the MM5 was nested down to resolution of 81 km for Domain 1 (domain span 21 × 81 km) and 3 km for Domain 4 (domain span 16 × 3 km), respectively, with vertical resolutions at 23, 40 and 53 vertical levels. The study was carried out at the Brue catchment in Southwest England using both the ERA-40 reanalysis data and the land-based observation data. The performances of four CPs were evaluated in terms of their ability to simulate the amount of cumulative rainfall in 4 months in 1995 representing the four seasonal months, namely, January (winter), March (spring), July (summer) and October (autumn). It is observed that the Anthes–Kuo scheme has produced inferior precipitation values during spring and autumn seasons while simulations during winter and summer were consistently good. The Betts–Miller scheme has produced some reasonable results, particularly at the small-scale domain (3 km grid size) during winter and summer. The KF2 scheme was the best scheme for the larger-scale (81 km grid size) domain during winter season at both 23 and 53 vertical levels. This scheme tended to underestimate rainfall for other seasons including the small-scale domain (3 km grid size) in the mesoscale. The Grell scheme was the best scheme in simulating rainfall rates, and was found to be superior to other three schemes with consistently better results in all four seasons and in different domain scales. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simulation of south Asian physical environment using various cumulus parameterization schemes of MM5

AbstractThe objective of this study was to compare the effect of a selected convective parameterized scheme in a mesoscale model on the predicted precipitation using the fifth‐generation Mesoscale Model (MM5). Four cumulus parameterization schemes in MM5, the Grell scheme, the Kain–Fritsch scheme, the Anthes–Kuo scheme and the Betts–Miller scheme were tested to predict the monthly accumulated precipitation in a south Asian region of complex topography during the summer monsoon season (July and August) for the years 1998 and 2001. The simulated results of precipitation were compared with the satellite‐derived data of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). Comparison of simulated precipitation patterns revealed that the Grell scheme realistically captured the rainfall patterns over the southern plain areas of the region which receive lesser precipitation throughout the year. This scheme was also in good agreement with the TRMM data for lesser amounts of precipitation over northern mountainous areas, though it showed underestimated results for heavy precipitation over the region. The rainfall patterns over the northern mountainous areas were captured well by the Kain–Fritsch scheme for heavy precipitation while this scheme slightly over predicted the precipitation trends in the southern plain areas. The Anthes–Kuo and the Betts–Miller schemes were not able to simulate the rainfall for this complex terrain satisfactorily. The set of physical options used in MM5 for precipitation in this study was also tested for some other meteorological parameters such as ambient temperature, potential temperature, relative humidity and the moist static energy and the results were validated against the Reanalysis data of US National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). It was found that the scheme that successfully simulated precipitation also predicted these other parameters well. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society

The Impact of Three Different Cumulus Parameterization Schemes on the Indian Summer Monsoon Circulation

In the present paper, the regional model (MM5) has been used to evaluate the performance of three cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs, namely, the Anthes-Kuo, Bette-Miller and Grell) over the Indian summer monsoon season of 1998. The model was integrated at 90 km horizontal resolution for the peak monsoon period of July, 1998. The initial and boundary conditions were taken from the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis available at 2.5° horizontal resolution. The performance of these CPSs has been examined using precipitation, wind, surface air temperature and heat – moisture data. Features of the Indian summer monsoon are found to be fairly well simulated by these three schemes; however, some differences are found in the typical features of the Indian summer monsoon. The strength of low level westerly jet, the cross equatorial flow, and the tropical easterly Jet have emerged clearly in the simulation using Grell compared to other CPSs. The Grell cumulus convection scheme shows ascending motion over whole tropical monsoon region and descending motion in mid latitude and is found to show close resemblance with the reanalysis data. The model simulation with Kuo cumulus scheme shows descending motion over tropical region, which is found to be unrealistic during monsoon and provide under estimation of rainfall over the Indian region. Strong upward motion over oceanic region by the model using Betts-Miller and Kuo schemes is also found to be unrealistic. The simulation of heat and moisture budget, and distribution of rainfall during monsoon period over Indian subcontinent are found to be improved considerably using Grell scheme as compared to other CPSs, whereas using Kuo scheme, rainfall is found to be underestimated over Indian subcontinent.

Convective Parameterization in a Model for the Prediction of Heavy Rain in Southern Thailand

Numerical weather predictions of three heavy rainfall events in the northeast monsoon causing floods and damage in southern Thailand are reported in this paper. The Pennsylvania State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) mesoscale model (MM5) was used with the Betts-Miller (BM), Grell (GR), and new Kain-Fritsch (KF2) convective parameterization (CP) schemes at 5 km resolution, and also with an unparameterized or explicit (EX) scheme, to look for a promising method for precipitation forecasting. The accumulated precipitation amounts predicted by the model were evaluated qualitatively by comparison with the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) maps, and quantitatively by calculating statistical score indices for different rainfall thresholds. The simulations were evaluated by comparing the synoptic near surface fields with the NCEP FNL objective analysis fields and also with the vertical profiles of wind speed, temperature and mixing ratio at Songkhla station.The simulations gave generally satisfactory predictions of the synoptic fields, except for an overprediction of the relative humidity. The heavy rainfall was associated in each case with a small vortex where the northeasterly wind interacted with a warm humid southerly wind. The model underestimated the heavy rainfall amounts, and widely different rainfall patterns were produced by the different schemes used. The KF2 and EX schemes generally gave better results than the BM and GR schemes.

Climatic simulations of the eastern Andes low-level jet and its dependency on convective parameterizations

The South American low level jet (SALLJ) of the Eastern Andes is investigated with Regional Climate Model version 3 (RegCM3) simulations during the 2002–2003 austral summer using two convective parameterizations (Grell and Emanuel). The simulated SALLJ is compared with the special observations of SALLJEX (SALLJ Experiment). Both the Grell and Emanuel schemes adequately simulate the low level flow over South America. However, there are some intensity differences. Due to the larger (smaller) convective activity, the Emanuel (Grell) scheme simulates more intense (weaker) low level wind than analysis in the tropics and subtropics. The objectives criteria of Sugahara (SJ) and Bonner (BJ) were used for LLJ identification. When applied to the observations, both criteria suggest a larger frequency of the SALLJ in Santa Cruz, followed by Mariscal, Trinidad and Asuncion. In Mariscal and Asuncion, the diurnal cycle indicates that SJ occurs mainly at 12 UTCs (morning), while the BJ criterion presents the SALLJ as more homogenously distributed. The concentration into two of the four-times-a-day observations does not allow conclusions about the diurnal cycle in Santa Cruz and Trinidad. The simulated wind profiles result in a lower than observed frequency of SALLJ using both the SJ and BJ criteria, with fewer events obtained with the BJ. Due to the stronger simulated winds, the Emanuel scheme produces an equal or greater relative frequency of SALLJ than the Grell scheme. However, the Grell scheme using the SJ criterion simulates the SALLJ diurnal cycle closer to the observed one. Although some discrepancies between observed and simulated mean vertical profiles of the horizontal wind are noted, there is large agreement between the composites of the vertical structure of the SALLJ, especially when the SJ criterion is used with the Grell scheme. On an intraseasonal scale, a larger southward displacement of SALLJ in February and December when compared with January has been noted. The Grell and Emanuel schemes simulated this observed oscillation in the low-level flow. However, the spatial pattern and intensity of rainfall and circulation anomalies simulated by the Grell scheme are closer to the analyses than those obtained with the Emanuel scheme.

Evaluation of Short-Range Forecasts from a Mesoscale Model Over the Indian Region During Monsoon 2006

This study examines the short-range forecast accuracy of the Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) as applied to the July 2006 episode of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the model's sensitivity to the choice of different cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs), namely Betts-Miller, Grell (GR) and Kain-Fritsch (KF). The results showed that MM5 day 1 (0–24 h prediction) and day 2 (24–48 h prediction) forecasts using all three CPSs overpredicted monsoon rainfall over the Indian landmass, with the larger overprediction seen in the day 2 forecasts. Among the CPSs, the rainfall distribution over the Indian landmass was better simulated in forecasts using the KF scheme. The KF scheme showed better skill in predicting the area of rainfall for most of the rainfall thresholds. The root mean square error (RMSE) in day 1 and day 2 rainfall forecasts using different CPSs showed that rainfall simulated using the KF scheme agreed better with the observed rainfall. As compared to other CPSs, simulation using the GR scheme showed larger RMSE in wind speed prediction at 850 and 200 hPa over the Indian landmass. MM5 24-h temperature forecasts at 850 hPa with all the CPSs showed a warm bias of the order of 1 K over the Indian landmass and the bias doubled in 48-h model forecasts. The mean error in temperature prediction at 850 hPa over the Indian region using the KF scheme was comparatively smaller for all the forecast intervals. The model with all the CPSs overpredicted humidity at 850 hPa. The improved prediction by MM5 with the KF scheme is well complemented by the smaller error shown by the KF scheme in vertical distribution of heat and mean moist static energy in the lower troposphere. In this study, the KF scheme which explicitly resolve the downdrafts in the cloud column tended to produce more realistic precipitation forecasts as compared to other schemes which did not explicitly incorporate downdraft effects. This is an important result especially given that the area covered by monsoon-precipitating systems is largely from stratiform-type clouds which are associated with strong downdrafts in the lower levels. This result is useful for improving the treatment of cumulus convection in numerical models over the ISM region.

Simulation of heavy precipitation episode over eastern Peninsular Malaysia using MM5: sensitivity to cumulus parameterization schemes

A comparative study has been conducted to investigate the skill of four convection parameterization schemes, namely the Anthes–Kuo (AK), the Betts–Miller (BM), the Kain–Fritsch (KF), and the Grell (GR) schemes in the numerical simulation of an extreme precipitation episode over eastern Peninsular Malaysia using the Pennsylvania State University—National Center for Atmospheric Research Center (PSU-NCAR) Fifth Generation Mesoscale Model (MM5). The event is a commonly occurring westward propagating tropical depression weather system during a boreal winter resulting from an interaction between a cold surge and the quasi-stationary Borneo vortex. The model setup and other physical parameterizations are identical in all experiments and hence any difference in the simulation performance could be associated with the cumulus parameterization scheme used. From the predicted rainfall and structure of the storm, it is clear that the BM scheme has an edge over the other schemes. The rainfall intensity and spatial distribution were reasonably well simulated compared to observations. The BM scheme was also better in resolving the horizontal and vertical structures of the storm. Most of the rainfall simulated by the BM simulation was of the convective type. The failure of other schemes (AK, GR and KF) in simulating the event may be attributed to the trigger function, closure assumption, and precipitation scheme. On the other hand, the appropriateness of the BM scheme for this episode may not be generalized for other episodes or convective environments.

Role of cumulus parameterization schemes in simulating heavy rainfall episodes off the coast of Maharashtra state during 28 June–4 July 2007

Indian summer monsoon gives on an average 250 cm of rainfall due to mesoscale/synoptic scale systems over west coast of India; now-a-days, MM5 model plays a very crucial role in simulating such heavy rainfall episodes like Mumbai (India) on 26 July 2005, which caused devastation through flash floods. The main aim of this study is to simulate such heavy rainfall episodes using three different cumulus parameterization schemes (CPS) namely Kain–Fritsch-1, Anthes–Kuo and Grell and to compare their relative merits in identifying the characteristics of mesoscale systems over 14 stations in coastal Maharashtra state during 28 June–4 July 2007. MM5 control experiment results are analysed for the fields of mean sea level pressure, wind, geopotential height at 850 hPa and rainfall with the above schemes. It is interesting to note that Kain–Fritsch-1 scheme simulates heavy rainfall amount of 48 cm for an observed rainfall of 51 cm in 24 h. The Grell scheme underestimates heavy rainfall episodes, while the Anthes–Kuo scheme is found to over predict rainfall on both temporal and spatial scales. The reason for better performance of KF-1 scheme may be due to inclusion of updrafts and downdrafts. Later the simulated rainfall quantities at 14 stations over study region are validated with both 3B42RT and observed rain gauge data of India Meteorological Department (IMD) and the results are promising. Finally, for the heavy rainfall prediction cases, the best threat score is at 0.25 mm threshold for three CPSs. Thus, this study is a breakthrough in pointing out that the KF-1 experiment has the best skill in predicting heavy rainfall episodes.