Abstract
Extratropical low-level mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) are difficult to
represent in global climate models and generate substantial uncertainty
in global climate projections. In this study we evaluate the simulated
properties of Southern Ocean (SO) boundary layer MPCs for August 2016 in
the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model. The bulk of the simulations
are part of the DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled
On Non-hydrostatic Domain (DYAMOND) initiative. The analysis shows that
previous and current versions of ICON overestimate cloud ice occurrence
in low-level clouds across all latitudes in the SO. Furthermore, cloud
seeding from upper-level ice clouds into low-level supercooled liquid
layers is found to strongly impact MPC occurrence in ICON. Like many
other global climate models, ICON underestimates the reflectivity of SO
boundary layer clouds. We can show that this effect is resolution
dependent and largely due to an underestimation in cloud fraction,
rather than optical depth. Additional sensitivity experiments show a
pronounced sensitivity of the Wegener-Bergeron Findeisen (WBF) process
with respect to temporal discretisation. Long integration intervals
overestimate WBF growth due to the artificially prolonged co-existence
of ice and water within the MPC regime. Furthermore, grid-imposed phase
homogeneity will likely yield an overestimation in WBF growth rates in
simulations performed at the scale of traditional climate models and
likely at the convection-permitting scale also. In addition, WBF growth
is likely overestimated due to the high bias in low-level cloud ice
occurrence. Changes with respect to cloud ice detrainment from shallow
convection are of secondary importance for SO MPC statistics.