Representation by two climate models of the dynamical and diabatic processes involved in the development of an explosively deepening cyclone during NAWDEX

David L. A. Flack , Gwendal Rivière , Ionela Musat , Romain Roehrig , Sandrine Bony , Julien Delanoë , Quitterie Cazenave , Jacques Pelon

The dynamical and microphysical properties of a well-observed cyclone from the North Atlantic Waveguide and Downstream Impact Experiment (NAWDEX), called the Stalactite cyclone and corresponding to intensive observa- tion period 6, is examined using two atmospheric compo- nents (ARPEGE-Climat 6.3 and LMDZ6A) of the global cli- mate models CNRM-CM6-1 and IPSL-CM6A, respectively. The hindcasts are performed in “weather forecast mode”, run at approximately 150–200 km (low resolution, LR) and ap- proximately 50 km (high resolution, HR) grid spacings, and initialised during the initiation stage of the cyclone. Cyclo- genesis results from the merging of two relative vorticity maxima at low levels: one associated with a diabatic Rossby vortex (DRV) and the other initiated by baroclinic interac- tion with a pre-existing upper-level potential vorticity (PV) cut-off. All hindcasts produce (to some extent) a DRV. How- ever, the second vorticity maximum is almost absent in LR hindcasts because of an underestimated upper-level PV cut- off. The evolution of the cyclone is examined via the quasi- geostrophic ω equation which separates the diabatic heat- ing component from the dynamical one. In contrast to some previous studies, there is no change in the relative impor- tance of diabatic heating with increased resolution. The anal- ysis shows that LMDZ6A produces stronger diabatic heat- ing compared to ARPEGE-Climat 6.3. Hindcasts initialised during the mature stage of the cyclone are compared with airborne remote-sensing measurements. There is an under- estimation of the ice water content in the model compared to the one retrieved from radar-lidar measurements. Consis- tent with the increased heating rate in LMDZ6A compared to ARPEGE-Climat 6.3, the sum of liquid and ice water con- tents is higher in LMDZ6A than ARPEGE-Climat 6.3 and, in that sense, LMDZ6A is closer to the observations. How- ever, LMDZ6A strongly overestimates the fraction of super- cooled liquid compared to the observations by a factor of ap- proximately 50.

Domains: Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]; Meteorology

David L. A. Flack, Gwendal Rivière, Ionela Musat, Romain Roehrig, Sandrine Bony, et al.. Representation by two climate models of the dynamical and diabatic processes involved in the development of an explosively deepening cyclone during NAWDEX. Weather and Climate Dynamics, 2021, 2, pp.233 - 253. ⟨10.5194/wcd-2-233-2021⟩. ⟨insu-03183467⟩