Identifying sensitive ranges in global warming precipitation change
dependence on convective parameters
Diana N. Bernstein and J. David Neelin
Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, doi:10.1002/2016GL069022.
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Supplemental Information (2.5 MB).
Group Section
Abstract.
A branch-run perturbed-physics ensemble in the Community Earth System Model
estimates impacts of parameters in the deep convection scheme on current hydroclimate
and on end-of-century precipitation change projections under global warming. Regional
precipitation change patterns prove highly sensitive to these parameters, especially in the
tropics with local changes exceeding 3 mm/day, comparable to the magnitude of the
predicted change and to differences in global warming predictions among the Coupled
Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 models. This sensitivity is distributed nonlinearly
across the feasible parameter range, notably in the low-entrainment range of the
parameter for turbulent entrainment in the deep convection scheme. This suggests a
useful target for parameter sensitivity studies is to identify such disproportionately
sensitive "dangerous ranges". The low-entrainment range is used to illustrate the
reduction in global warming regional precipitation sensitivity that could occur if this
dangerous range can be excluded based on evidence from current climate.
Citation:
Bernstein, D. N. and J. D. Neelin, 2016: Identifying sensitive ranges in global warming
precipitation change dependence on convective parameters.
Geophys. Res. Lett.,43, doi:10.1002/2016GL069022.
Acknowledgments.
This work was supported in part by National Science Foundation (NSF) AGS-1102838/
AGS-1540518, Department of Energy DE-SC0006739 and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration NA14OAR4310274, with high-performance computing
support from Yellowstone (ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc) provided by NCAR's Computational
and Information Systems Laboratory, sponsored by NSF. CESM output data used in this
study is available from the authors (diana.bernstein@mail.huji.ac.il) following guidelines in the
CESM data plan www.cesm.ucar.edu/management/docs/data.mgt.plan.2011.pdf. The
GPCP combined precipitation data were developed and computed by the NASA/Goddard
Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Atmospheres and provided by NOAA/OAR/ESRL
PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/. The authors thank S.
Sahany for discussions and J. E. Meyerson for graphical assistance.
An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (2016) American Geophysical Union.
To view the published open abstract, go to AGU Journal Link.