Cloud-system resolving simulations with the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System global atmospheric model (GEOS-5)

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has developed a global non-hydrostatic cloud-system resolving capability within the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System global atmospheric model version 5 (GEOS-5). Using a non-hydrostatic finite-volume dynamical core coupled with advances in the moist physics and convective parameterization the model has been used to perform cloud-system resolving experiments at resolutions as fine as 3.5- to 14-km globally. An overview of preliminary results highlights the development of mid-latitude cyclones, the overall representation of global tropical convection, intense convective activity within the eye wall and outer rain bands of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane Bill validated by satellite observations, and the seasonal predictability of global tropical cyclone activity with realistic intensities. These preliminary results provide motivation for the use of GEOS-5 to simulate multi-scale convective systems within a global model at cloud resolving resolutions. Citation: Putman, W. M., and M. Suarez (2011), Cloud-system resolving simulations with the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System global atmospheric model (GEOS-5), Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L16809, doi: 10.1029/2011GL048438.