Large-eddy simulations over Germany using ICON: a comprehensive evaluation
Creators: name: Heinze, Rieke
name: Dipankar, Anurag
name: Henken, Cintia Carbajal
name: Moseley, Christopher
name: Sourdeval, Odran
name: Trömel, Silke
name: Xie, Xinxin
name: Adamidis, Panos
name: Ament, Felix
name: Baars, Holger
name: Barthlott, Christian
name: Behrendt, Andreas
name: Blahak, Ulrich
name: Bley, Sebastian
name: Brdar, Slavko
name: Brueck, Matthias
name: Crewell, Susanne
name: Deneke, Hartwig
name: Di Girolamo, Paolo
name: Evaristo, Raquel
name: Fischer, Jürgen
name: Frank, Christopher
name: Friederichs, Petra
name: Göcke, Tobias
name: Gorges, Ksenia
name: Hande, Luke
name: Hanke, Moritz
name: Hansen, Akio
name: Hege, Hans-Christian
name: Hoose, Corinna
name: Jahns, Thomas
name: Kalthoff, Norbert
name: Klocke, Daniel
name: Kneifel, Stefan
name: Knippertz, Peter
name: Kuhn, Alexander
name: Laar, Thriza Van
name: Macke, Andreas
name: Maurer, Vera
name: Mayer, Bernhard
name: Meyer, Catrin I.
name: Muppa, Shravan K.
name: Neggers, Roeland A.J.
name: Orlandi, Emiliano
name: Pantillon, Florian
name: Pospichal, Bernhard
name: Röber, Niklas
name: Scheck, Leonhard
name: Seifert, Axel
name: Seifert, Patric
name: Senf, Fabian
name: Siligam, Pavan
name: Simmer, Clemens
name: Steinke, Sandra
name: Stevens, Björn
name: Wapler, Kathrin
name: Weniger, Michael
name: Wulfmeyer, Volker
name: Zängl, Günther
name: Zhang, Dan
name: Quaas, Johannes
Publisher: name: Chichester : John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Year: 2017
Subjects: subject: clouds and precipitation
subject: evaluation with observations
subject: large-eddy simulation
subject: Atmospheric thermodynamics
subject: Boundary layers
subject: Climate models
subject: Clouds
subject: Precipitation (meteorology)
subject: Turbulence
subject: Weather forecasting
subject: Comprehensive evaluation
subject: Development and applications
subject: High-resolution models
subject: Ice cloud microphysics
subject: Mesoscale variability
subject: Numerical weather prediction models
subject: Satellite observations
subject: Large eddy simulation
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::500 | Naturwissenschaften

description: Large-eddy simulations (LES) with the new ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic atmosphere model (ICON) covering Germany are evaluated for four days in spring 2013 using observational data from various sources. Reference simulations with the established Consortium for Small-scale Modelling (COSMO) numerical weather prediction model and further standard LES codes are performed and used as a reference. This comprehensive evaluation approach covers multiple parameters and scales, focusing on boundary-layer variables, clouds and precipitation. The evaluation points to the need to work on parametrizations influencing the surface energy balance, and possibly on ice cloud microphysics. The central purpose for the development and application of ICON in the LES configuration is the use of simulation results to improve the understanding of moist processes, as well as their parametrization in climate models. The evaluation thus aims at building confidence in the model's ability to simulate small- to mesoscale variability in turbulence, clouds and precipitation. The results are encouraging: the high-resolution model matches the observed variability much better at small- to mesoscales than the coarser resolved reference model. In its highest grid resolution, the simulated turbulence profiles are realistic and column water vapour matches the observed temporal variability at short time-scales. Despite being somewhat too large and too frequent, small cumulus clouds are well represented in comparison with satellite data, as is the shape of the cloud size spectrum. Variability of cloud water matches the satellite observations much better in ICON than in the reference model. In this sense, it is concluded that the model is fit for the purpose of using its output for parametrization development, despite the potential to improve further some important aspects of processes that are also parametrized in the high-resolution model.