A Library of Large-eddy Simulations for Calibrating Cloud Parameterizations

Advances in high-performance computing have enabled large-eddy simulations (LES) of turbulence, convection, and clouds, but their potential to improve parameterizations in global climate models (GCMs) is only beginning to be harnessed. We design an experimental setup in which LES can be driven by large-scale forcings from GCMs. This can be done anywhere in the atmosphere, and we use this setup to create a library of LES of clouds across tropical and subtropical regimes. The LES are used to simulate the transition from stratoculumus to shallow cumulus over the East Pacific. The results are not very sensitive to the choice of the host GCM driving the LES. The setup is also used to simulate clouds under climate change. The LES simulate a positive but weak shortwave cloud feedback. The LES library expands the datasets available for calibrating parameterizations in GCMs