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Spatial and temporal variability of clouds and precipitation over Germany: Multiscale simulations across the "gray zone"

Barthlott, C. ORCID iD icon 1; Hoose, C. ORCID iD icon 1
1 Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

This paper assesses the resolution dependance of clouds and precipitation over Germany by numerical simulations with the COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling (COSMO) model. Six intensive observation periods of the HOPE (HD(CP)2 Observational Prototype Experiment) measurement campaign conducted in spring 2013 and 1 summer day of the same year are simulated. By means of a series of grid-refinement resolution tests (horizontal grid spacing 2.8, 1 km, 500, and 250 m), the applicability of the COSMO model to represent real weather events in the gray zone, i.e., the scale ranging between the mesoscale limit (no turbulence resolved) and the large-eddy simulation limit (energy-containing turbulence resolved), is tested. To the authors' knowledge, this paper presents the first non-idealized COSMO simulations in the peer-reviewed literature at the 250-500 m scale. It is found that the kinetic energy spectra derived from model output show the expected -5/3 slope, as well as a dependency on model resolution, and that the effective resolution lies between 6 and 7 times the nominal resolution. Although the representation of a number of processes is enhanced with resolution (e.g., boundary-layer thermals, low-level convergence zones, gravity waves), their influence on the temporal evolution of precipitation is rather weak. ... mehr


Volltext §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000052075
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.5194/acp-15-12361-2015
Scopus
Zitationen: 28
Web of Science
Zitationen: 28
Dimensions
Zitationen: 25
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsjahr 2015
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 1680-7316
urn:nbn:de:swb:90-520754
KITopen-ID: 1000052075
HGF-Programm 12.01.01 (POF III, LK 01) Clouds in a pertubed atmosphere
Erschienen in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Verlag European Geosciences Union (EGU)
Band 15
Heft 21
Seiten 12361-12384
Bemerkung zur Veröffentlichung Gefördert durch den KIT-Publikationsfonds
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
Web of Science
Dimensions
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