Direct comparisons of ice cloud macro- and microphysical properties simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 with HIPPO aircraft observations

Wu, Chenglai; Liu, Xiaohong; Diao, Minghui; Zhang, Kai; Gettelman, Andrew; Lu, Zheng; Penner, Joyce E.; Lin, Zhaohui

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4731-2017

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4731-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4731-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 7

Research article

|

11 Apr 2017

Research article |

| 11 Apr 2017

Direct comparisons of ice cloud macro- and microphysical properties simulated by the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 with HIPPO aircraft observations

Chenglai Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Minghui Diao, Kai Zhang, Andrew Gettelman, Zheng Lu, Joyce E. Penner, and Zhaohui Lin

Data sets

HIPPO observations EOL https://www.eol.ucar.edu/field_projects/hippo

Short summary

This study utilizes a novel approach to directly compare the CAM5-simulated cloud macro- and microphysics with the collocated HIPPO observations for the period of 2009 to 2011. The model cannot capture the large spatial variabilities of observed RH, which is responsible for much of the model missing low-level warm clouds. A large portion of the RH bias results from the discrepancy in water vapor. The model underestimates the observed number concentration and ice water content.