Skip to content

CASIM coupling to prognostic precipitation fraction used with CoMorph #258

@MichaelWhitall

Description

@MichaelWhitall

Are there any linked Issues or Pull Requests?

No response

Brief description

With CASIM, the sub-grid fraction for rain and graupel is currently set to the max cloud fraction in the column above the current height. CoMorph currently works with a prognostic field for the sub-grid rain / graupel fraction, which it sets to a suitably small value where most of the precip is being produced by a fractionally-small convective cloud area.

Single Column Model tests using CASIM reveal that CASIM's existing assumption yields an unrealistically-large rain fraction in typical parameterised deep convection situations. Diffuse detrained cirrus readily spreads across the entire grid-area at cloud-top, which results in CASIM setting the rain fraction to 1 throughout the troposphere, even though the area occupied by the deep convection producing the rain is < 5%.

Unlike in the Wilson-Ballard microphysics scheme, the rain fraction does not have a strong influence on the assumed hydrometeor size distribution in CASIM. However it does have important effects on rain / cloud / ice overlap and on canopy throughfall versus re-evaporation where the rain falls on the land surface. Therefore we should try and couple CASIM consistently with CoMorph's precip fraction prognostic instead of using the max cloud-fraction in the column above.

Further details of the issue.

No response

Metadata

Metadata

Labels

enhancementNew feature or request
No fields configured for Feature.

Projects

No projects

Milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions