The Horizontal Resolution Sensitivity of the Simple
Convection-Permitting E3SM Atmosphere Model in a Doubly-Periodic
Configuration
Abstract
We develop a doubly periodic version of the Simple Convection-Permitting
E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM) to provide an “efficient” configuration
for this global storm resolving model (GSRM), akin to a single column
model (SCM) often found in conventional general circulation models
(GCMs). The design details are explained, in addition to the extensive
case library associated with the doubly periodic SCREAM (DP-SCREAM)
configuration. We demonstrate that doubly periodic cloud resolving
models are useful tools to explore the scale awareness and scale
sensitivity of GSRMs, in addition to replicating biases seen in the
global models. Using DP-SCREAM, we show that SCREAM is a scale aware
model as it is able to realistically partition between sub-grid scale
(SGS) and resolved vertical transport across the gray zone of
turbulence. We show that SCREAM is reasonably scale insensitive when run
at resolutions from 1 to 5 km, but can exhibit sensitivity, particularly
for the shallow convective regime, when run at resolutions approaching
that of large eddy simulations. We conclude that SGS parameterization
improvements are likely needed to reduce this scale sensitivity.