Abstract
Advances in high-performance computing have enabled large-eddy
simulations (LES) of turbulence, convection, and clouds, but their
potential to improve parameterizations in global climate models (GCMs)
is only beginning to be harnessed. We design an experimental setup in
which LES can be driven by large-scale forcings from GCMs. This can be
done anywhere in the atmosphere, and we use this setup to create a
library of LES of clouds across tropical and subtropical regimes. The
LES are used to simulate the transition from stratoculumus to shallow
cumulus over the East Pacific. The results are not very sensitive to the
choice of the host GCM driving the LES. The setup is also used to
simulate clouds under climate change. The LES simulate a positive but
weak shortwave cloud feedback. The LES library expands the datasets
available for calibrating parameterizations in GCMs.