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Convection-Permitting Simulations with the E3SM Global Atmosphere Model
  • +28
  • Peter Martin Caldwell,
  • Christopher Ryutaro Terai,
  • Benjamin R Hillman,
  • Noel D. Keen,
  • Peter A Bogenschutz,
  • Wuyin Lin,
  • Hassan Beydoun,
  • Mark A Taylor,
  • Luca Bertagna,
  • Andrew Bradley,
  • Thomas C Clevenger,
  • Aaron Sheffield Donahue,
  • Christopher Eldred,
  • James G Foucar,
  • Jean-Christophe Golaz,
  • Oksana Guba,
  • Robert L Jacob,
  • Jeff Johnson,
  • Jagadish Krishna,
  • Weiran Liu,
  • Kyle G Pressel,
  • Andrew G. Salinger,
  • Balwinder Singh,
  • Andrew Steyer,
  • Paul Ullrich,
  • Danqing Wu,
  • Xingqiu Yuan,
  • Jacob Shpund,
  • Hsi-Yen Ma,
  • Charles Sutton Zender,
  • Jayesh Krishna
Peter Martin Caldwell
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Christopher Ryutaro Terai
University of California - Irvine, University of California - Irvine
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Benjamin R Hillman
Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories
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Noel D. Keen
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (DOE), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (DOE)
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Peter A Bogenschutz
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Wuyin Lin
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory
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Hassan Beydoun
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
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Mark A Taylor
Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories
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Luca Bertagna
Unknown, Unknown
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Andrew Bradley
Sandia National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory
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Thomas C Clevenger
Sandia National Lab, Sandia National Lab
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Aaron Sheffield Donahue
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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Christopher Eldred
Sandia National Lab, LAGA, University of Paris
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James G Foucar
Sandia National Laboratory (DOE), Sandia National Laboratory (DOE)
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Jean-Christophe Golaz
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)
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Oksana Guba
Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia National Laboratories
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Robert L Jacob
Argonne Notional Laboratory, Argonne Notional Laboratory
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Jeff Johnson
Cohere LLC, Cohere LLC
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Jagadish Krishna
Unknown
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Weiran Liu
UC Davis, UC Davis
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Kyle G Pressel
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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Andrew G. Salinger
Sandia National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory
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Balwinder Singh
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (DOE), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (DOE)
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Andrew Steyer
Sandia National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory
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Paul Ullrich
University of California Davis, University of California Davis
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Danqing Wu
Argonne National Lab, Argonne National Lab
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Xingqiu Yuan
Argonne National Lab, Argonne National Lab
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Jacob Shpund
Unknown, Unknown
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Hsi-Yen Ma
LLNL, LLNL
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Charles Sutton Zender
University of California, Irvine, University of California, Irvine
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Jayesh Krishna
Argonne National Lab
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Abstract

This paper describes the first implementation of the d x=3.25 km version of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) global atmosphere model and its behavior in a 40 day prescribed-sea-surface-temperature simulation (Jan 20-Feb 28, 2020). This simulation was performed as part of the DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled On Non-hydrostatic Domains (DYAMOND) phase 2 model intercomparison. Effective resolution is found to be $\sim 6x the horizontal grid resolution despite using a coarser grid for physical parameterizations. Despite this new model being in an immature and untuned state, moving to 3.25 km grid spacing solves several long-standing problems with the E3SM model. In particular, Amazon precipitation is much more realistic, the frequency of light and heavy precipitation is improved, agreement between the simulated and observed diurnal cycle of tropical precipitation is excellent, and the vertical structure of tropical convection and coastal stratocumulus look good. In addition, the new model is able to capture the frequency and structure of important weather events (e.g. hurricanes, midlatitude storms including atmospheric rivers, and cold air outbreaks). Interestingly, this model does not get rid of the erroneous southern branch of the intertropical convergence zone nor the tendency for strongest convection to occur over the Maritime Continent rather than the West Pacific, both of which are classic climate model biases. Several other problems with the simulation are identified, underscoring the fact that this model is a work in progress.
Nov 2021Published in Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems volume 13 issue 11. 10.1029/2021MS002544