Houghton Lecture: Chris Bretherton (University of Washington)

Houghton Lecture Series: Insights from Large-Scale Cloud-Resolving Modeling of Convection and Clouds | "Humidity-Cloud-Precipitation Feedbacks and Convective Organization" - Large cloud-resolving simulations with 10^8 or more grid points are a powerful tool for modeling multiscale interactions between cumulus and boundary-layer clouds and atmospheric circulations. These multiscale interactions are important for tropical weather and global climate and they are challenging to parameterize in climate models. Near-global aquaplanet simulations with 4 km horizontal resolution will be used to explore mechanisms of tropical convective aggregation and cloud feedbacks, especially feedbacks between radiation, humidity, clouds and convection. Finally, early results will be presented from a new global modeling strategy, ultraparameterization, that resolves boundary layer clouds and turbulence. | EVENT WEBSITE