Garcia-Carreras, L orcid.org/0000-0002-9844-3170, Marsham, JH orcid.org/0000-0003-3219-8472, Parker, DJ orcid.org/0000-0003-2335-8198 et al. (6 more authors) (2013) The impact of convective cold pool outflows on model biases in the Sahara. Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (8). pp. 1647-1652. ISSN 0094-8276
Abstract
Radiosonde data from Fennec supersite-1 in the remote central Sahara have been used to evaluate the impact of convectively generated cold pool outflows on model errors. Model predictions are too warm and dry, with cold pools contributing significantly to the mean bias. Although dust concentrations are high within cold pools, the sign of the errors is inconsistent with radiative impacts of dust. Cold pools cause 29% of the meridional humidity flux, but this contribution is absent in the forecast and analysis. Assimilating radiosondes reduces the errors, but significant temperature and meridional humidity flux biases remain at night. The model biases are consistent with the larger-scale heat low biases in the operational Met Office Unified Model and can be linked to known issues with convective parameterizations used in all global weather and climate models. This study suggests that the misrepresentation of moist convective processes can affect continental-scale biases, altering the West African monsoon circulation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Garcia-Carreras, L., J. H. Marsham, D. J. Parker, C. L. Bain, S. Milton, A. Saci, M. Salah-Ferroudj, B. Ouchene, and R. Washington (2013), The impact of convective cold pool outflows on model biases in the Sahara, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 1647–1652, doi:10.1002/grl.50239. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI |
Keywords: | Saharan Heat Low (SHL); parameterisations of convection; West African monsoon (WAM); cold pool |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 14 May 2014 14:39 |
Last Modified: | 14 Jan 2021 14:32 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/grl.50239 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/grl.50239 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:77917 |