Completing the Single-Column Root of a Hierarchy of Configurations for the Community Atmosphere Model

就像医学从生物学对果蝇和实验室小鼠的研究中学习一样，大气科学依赖于具有各种复杂性的模型的“层次结构”，这些模型允许所考虑的过程彼此充分相互作用，同时保持其他简化，以提高我们的理解和增强我们对天气和气候模拟和预测的能力。大气层的垂直维度是特殊的，因为温度和压力在短短几公里内变化很大。在各种条件下模拟大气垂直廓线，称为单柱模式，一直被认为是大气科学中模式复杂性等级的最低“根”。该项目的目标是开发和演示使用单柱模式平台的实用性，以了解和评估各种物理参数化方案对热带气候和气候模式变率的影响。这一项目将有助于有关的国际模式相互比较项目，如辐射-对流平衡模式相互比较项目和全球大气系统研究-弱温度梯度项目。该项目将支持一名研究生完成其学位，培养下一代大气科学家也是该项目的重要影响。在该项目中，一名博士生将完成他与PI的多年工作，设计一个只包括辐射，表面能量交换，湍流和云过程之间垂直相互作用的社区大气模型版本。 具体而言，他们将在两种不同的设置中配置4个版本的社区大气模型的单柱模型组件：一个只考虑辐射和对流过程之间的相互作用，另一个还包括大尺度动力学效应，尽管高度理想化或参数化，在相互作用循环中。在后一种情况下，大尺度将使用弱温度梯度近似或阻尼重力波极限来参数化。 他们将使用这个框架来探索模拟柱大气对辐射加热率、对流参数化、垂直分辨率和强迫的依赖性及其与大尺度动力学的相互作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Just as medicine learns from biology's studies of fruit flies and lab mice, atmospheric sciences rely on a "hierarchy" of models with various complexity that allow the processes under the consideration to interact with one another fully while keeping others simplified for improving our understanding and enhancing our ability of weather and climate simulations and predictions. The vertical dimension of the atmosphere is special, because temperature and pressure vary greatly in just a few kilometers. Modeling of atmospheric vertical profiles under various conditions, called single-column model, has been regarded the lowest "root" of the hierarchy of model complexity for atmospheric sciences. The goal of this project is to develop and demonstrate the utility of using single-column model platform for understanding and evaluating impacts of various physical parameterization schemes on the tropical climate and variability of a climate model. This project will contribute to relevant international model intercomparison projects, such as the Radiative-Convective Equilibrium Model Intercomparison Project and the Global Atmospheric Systems Study - Weak Temperature Gradient project. The project will support a graduate student to complete his degree and the training of the next generation of atmospheric scientists is also an important impact of this project.In this project, a PhD student will complete his multi-year work with the PI in devising a version of the Community Atmosphere Model that includes only the vertical interactions among radiation, surface energy exchanges, and turbulence and cloud processes. Specifically, they will configure the single-column model component of 4 versions of the Community Atmospheric Model in two different settings: one only considers interactions among radiative and convective processes and the other also includes large-scale dynamics effects, although highly idealized or parameterized, in the interaction loops. In the latter case, the large scale would be parameterized using either the weak temperature gradient approximation, or the damped-gravity wave limit. They will use this framework to explore the dependence of simulated column atmosphere on radiative heating rate, convective parameterizations, vertical resolution and forcing and its interactions with large-scale dynamics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.