The Importance of Mesoscale Circulations Generated by Subgrid-Scale Landscape Heterogeneities in General Circulation Models

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Abstract
A mesoscale atmospheric model was used to evaluate the impact of subgrid-scale landscape discontinuities on the vertical profiles of resolved temperature, moisture, and moist static energy in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) of GCMs. These profiles were produced with a 3D version of the model (using a horizontal grid resolution of 7.5 km and 13 vertical layers in the PBL) by averaging horizontally the various atmospheric variables over a 180×180 km2 domain-about the size of the horizontal domain represented by a single grid element in a GCM. They were compared to corresponding vertical profiles produced with a 1 D version of the model, which simulates the PBL, as in a GCM, over a single horizontal grid element. Differences obtained between the horizontally averaged atmospheric variables produced with the 3D situations and the 1 D simulations emphasize the impact of subgrid-scale landscape discontinuities on GCM-resolved variables. Various types of landscape discontinuities, characterized by hor... Abstract A mesoscale atmospheric model was used to evaluate the impact of subgrid-scale landscape discontinuities on the vertical profiles of resolved temperature, moisture, and moist static energy in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) of GCMs. These profiles were produced with a 3D version of the model (using a horizontal grid resolution of 7.5 km and 13 vertical layers in the PBL) by averaging horizontally the various atmospheric variables over a 180×180 km2 domain-about the size of the horizontal domain represented by a single grid element in a GCM. They were compared to corresponding vertical profiles produced with a 1 D version of the model, which simulates the PBL, as in a GCM, over a single horizontal grid element. Differences obtained between the horizontally averaged atmospheric variables produced with the 3D situations and the 1 D simulations emphasize the impact of subgrid-scale landscape discontinuities on GCM-resolved variables. Various types of landscape discontinuities, characterized by hor...

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