Tan (2025) The Climatic Impacts of a Satellite‐Based Parameterization of the Wegener‐Bergeron‐Findeisen Process for Large‐Scale Models

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-30
• Authors: Ivy Tan
• DOI: 10.1029/2024ms004645

Research Groups

Not specified in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study develops and implements a satellite-based, temperature-dependent parameterization for the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen (WBF) process in CAM5.3, which significantly improves the simulation of ice mass and effective radius in mixed-phase clouds compared to satellite observations.

Objective

• To develop and implement a satellite-based, temperature-dependent parameterization of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen (WBF) process, accounting for subgrid-scale variability of cloud thermodynamic phase within mixed-phase clouds, into version 5.3 of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM5.3).
• To investigate the impact of this new parameterization on cloud microphysical and macrophysical properties and the cloud feedback response to a global warming perturbation.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global (implied by the use of a global climate model and investigation of global warming perturbation).
• Temporal Scale: Climate scale (implied by the investigation of cloud feedback response to a global warming perturbation).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM5.3).
• Data sources: Satellite observations.

Main Results

• The new WBF parameterization significantly improves overestimates in the mass of ice within mixed-phase clouds and ice effective radius when compared to satellite observations.
• This temperature-dependent parameterization is superior to tuning the WBF process with a multiplicative constant.
• It reduces overall biases in cloud fraction relative to satellite observations, although this is due to compensating biases (reduced low-level cloud cover bias and increased non-low-level cloud cover bias).
• The increased bias in non-low-level cloud cover is attributed to decreases in the rate of autoconversion of cloud ice, a side effect of the WBF parameterization.
• The parameterization impacts the magnitude of model biases in cloud properties and cloud feedback but does not significantly alter their spatial distribution.

Contributions

• Development of a novel satellite-based, temperature-dependent parameterization for the WBF process that accounts for subgrid-scale cloud phase variability.
• Demonstration that this parameterization leads to more realistic simulations of cloud properties (ice mass, effective radius, cloud fraction) compared to satellite observations, outperforming constant scaling methods.
• Recommendation for the use of temperature-dependent scalings for the WBF process over constant scaling parameters in climate models to better simulate cloud properties.

Funding

Not specified in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Tan2025Climatic,
  author = {Tan, Ivy},
  title = {The Climatic Impacts of a Satellite‐Based Parameterization of the Wegener‐Bergeron‐Findeisen Process for Large‐Scale Models},
  journal = {Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1029/2024ms004645},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2024ms004645}
}