The impact of vertical resolution upon GCM simulations of marine stratocumulus

Abstract

 The impact of increased vertical resolution in the Hadley Centre Climate Model upon the simulation of stratocumulus is investigated in experiments using single column (SCM) and general circulation (GCM) model configurations. A threefold enhancement of vertical resolution in the boundary layer leads to improvements in the vertical structure of the cloud-topped boundary layer produced by the SCM and GCM in both well-mixed and decoupled situations. However, single and decoupled mixed layers in the marine stratocumulus subsidence regions are still too shallow and, despite increasing, layer cloud amounts remain generally too low. Moreover, closer examination of GCM data and SCM timeseries reveals an underlying sensitivity to vertical resolution in model interactions between boundary layer and convection processes which appears unrealistic. Stratocumulus simulation is thus unlikely to improve significantly as a result of enhanced resolution alone and further work is being undertaken to improve the Hadley Centre model’s boundary layer scheme and, in particular, its interaction with the convection scheme. Nevertheless, this study shows that the full benefit of an improved boundary layer scheme will not be realized if the boundary layer structure is constrained by the rather poor lower troposphere resolution of the standard 19-level climate model. Future Hadley Centre model versions will seek to combine the added flexibility of a better resolved structure with improvements to the subgrid boundary layer parametrizations.