@article{23089, keywords = {Arctic clouds, Cloud-resolving models, Mixed-phase cloud, Single-column models}, author = {Stephen A Klein and Renata B McCoy and Hugh Morrison and Andrew S Ackerman and Alexander Avramov and Gijs de Boer and Mingxuan Chen and Jason N. S Cole and Anthony Del Genio and Michael Falk and Michael J Foster and Ann M Fridlind and Jean-Christophe Golaz and Tempei Hashino and Jerry Y Harrington and Corinna Hoose and Marat F Khairoutdinov and Vincent E Larson and Xiaohong Liu and Yali Luo and Greg M McFarquhar and Surabi Menon and Roel A. J Neggers and Sungsu Park and Michael R Poellot and Jerome M Schmidt and Igor Sednev and Ben J Shipway and Matthew D Shupe and Douglas A Spangenberg and Yogesh C Sud and David D Turner and Dana E Veron and Knut von Salzen and Gregory K Walker and Zhien Wang and Audrey B Wolf and Shaocheng Xie and Kuan-Man Xu and Fanglin Yang and Gong Zhang}, title = {Intercomparison of model simulations of mixed-phase clouds observed during the ARM Mixed-phase Arctic cloud experiment. Part I: Single layer cloud}, abstract = {

Results are presented from an intercomparison of single-column and cloud-resolving model simulations of a cold-air outbreak mixed-phase stratocumulus cloud observed during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) programme's Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment. The observed cloud occurred in a well-mixed boundary layer with a cloud-top temperature of − 15 °C. The average liquid water path of around 160 g m−2was about two-thirds of the adiabatic value and far greater than the average mass of ice which when integrated from the surface to cloud top was around 15 g m−2. Simulations of 17 single-column models (SCMs) and 9 cloud-resolving models (CRMs) are compared. While the simulated ice water path is generally consistent with observed values, the median SCM and CRM liquid water path is a factor-of-three smaller than observed. Results from a sensitivity study in which models removed ice microphysics suggest that in many models the interaction between liquid and ice-phase microphysics is responsible for the large model underestimate of liquid water path. Despite this underestimate, the simulated liquid and ice water paths of several models are consistent with observed values. Furthermore, models with more sophisticated microphysics simulate liquid and ice water paths that are in better agreement with the observed values, although considerable scatter exists. Although no single factor guarantees a good simulation, these results emphasize the need for improvement in the model representation of mixed-phase microphysics.

}, year = {2009}, journal = {Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society}, volume = {135}, pages = {979-1002}, month = {04/2009}, doi = {10.1002/qj.416}, }