Convective Cloud Systems in Climate Models

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This research consists of four main tasks: 1. Conduct further studies of the moist available energy as it applies to moist convective instability (the generalized convective available potential energy), based on the penetrator algorithm and building on the previous work of the PIs. 2. Carry out further development of the prognostic closure for the Arakawa-Schubert cumulus parameterization, including studies of the physical meaning of >, and the role of multiple cloud base levels. 3. Complete, install, and test the prognostic cloud water parameterization that we have developed for the CSU GCM. This will include tests in both one-dimensional and three- dimensional versions of the model. 4. Results of the GCM simulations will be compared with observations, with emphasis on seasonal changes of the clear- sky greenhouse effect and the Earth's entropy budget, and numerical experiments designed to reveal the sensitivity of the results to aspects of the model's formulation. This research is important because it seeks to better understand cloud and energy processes in the Earth's atmosphere in order to be able to represent them more realistically in weather and climate models.