Regional Assessments of Low Clouds against Large-Scale Stability in CAM5 and CAM-CLUBB Using MODIS and ERA-Interim Reanalysis Data

摘要

Daily gridded cloud data from MODIS and ERA- Interim reanalysis have been assessed to examine variations of low cloud fraction (CF) and cloud-top height and their dependence on large-scale dynamics and a measure of stability. To assess the stratocumulus (Sc) to cumulus (Cu) transition (STCT), the observations are used to evaluate two versions of the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5), both the base model and a version that has implemented a new subgrid low cloud parameterization, Cloud Layers Unified by Binormals (CLUBB).