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Ocean Surface Flux Algorithm Effects on Tropical Indo-Pacific Intraseasonal Precipitation
Chia-Wei Hsu1, Charlotte A DeMott1, Mark D Branson1
1Colorado State University Fort Collins CO USA.
Geophysical Research Letters
|July 22, 2022
Summary
Tropical latent heat fluxes, crucial for intraseasonal precipitation, are overestimated in climate models. Flux corrections improve agreement with observations, suggesting models overly support Madden-Julian oscillation convection.
Area of Science:
- Atmospheric Science
- Climate Modeling
- Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction
Background:
- Surface latent heat fluxes are critical for sustaining tropical intraseasonal precipitation patterns.
- Accurate representation of these fluxes is essential for understanding phenomena like the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO).
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and apply a diagnostic tool for evaluating surface latent heat fluxes in climate models.
- To assess the overestimation of latent heat fluxes in specific climate models (NCAR CEMS2, DOE E3SMv1) compared to observational data and a standard algorithm (COARE3.0).
- To investigate the impact of surface flux algorithm sensitivity on MJO simulations through model corrections.
Main Methods:
- Development of a latent heat flux diagnostic based on near-surface specific humidity vertical gradient (Δq) and surface wind speed (|V|).
- Comparison of model-simulated fluxes with data from tropical moorings and the Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment 3.0 (COARE3.0) algorithm.
- Implementation of offline and inline flux correction strategies within climate models.
Main Results:
- Tropical latent heat fluxes in NCAR CEMS2 and DOE E3SMv1 models are significantly overestimated at extreme values of |V| and Δq.
- Both offline and inline flux corrections reduce the simulated latent heat flux feedback to intraseasonal precipitation.
- Corrected model simulations show better agreement with observed precipitation patterns.
Conclusions:
- Climate models tend to overestimate surface latent heat fluxes, particularly under extreme conditions.
- The overestimation leads to excessive support for MJO convection in model simulations.
- Implementing flux corrections improves model fidelity in representing tropical intraseasonal precipitation and MJO dynamics.
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