Yj. Kim et al., Sensitivity of AGCM simulations to modifications in the ozone distributionand refinements in selected physical parameterizations, J METEO JPN, 76(5), 1998, pp. 695-709
The sensitivity of the stratospheric circulation simulated by an atmospheri
c general circulation model (UCLA. AGCM) to modifications in the parameteri
zation of several key physical processes is investigated. The focus is on t
he northern hemisphere winter circulation simulated by the troposphere-stra
tosphere version of the model.
The parameterization of ozone mixing ratio is first investigated by compari
ng multi-year simulations with distributions of ozone mixing ratio that are
either prescribed according to an observed climatology, or predicted using
a scheme with a simple photochemistry formulation. The prescribed ozone mi
xing ratios produce a considerably more realistic circulation, although the
results are degraded in some regions of the stratosphere. This leads to a
closer look into the radiation parameterization. Several simulations for th
e northern winter season are performed with adjustments to obtain more real
istic radiative cooling rates mainly in the upper stratosphere. It is found
that the simulation of the stratospheric polar night jet is very sensitive
to these adjustments. Additional experiments performed by adding Rayleigh
friction and Newtonian cooling reveal a similar sensitivity. The results of
these experiments emphasize a need for caution when ad-hoc adjustments are
applied in the model. They also confirm that the performance of an AGCM in
the stratosphere can depend on several different model aspects, and that t
his dependence is not always straightforward.
In addition, the authors argue that their results support the notion that p
arameterizations of orographic gravity wave drag that neglect or underestim
ate the drag in the troposphere may overestimate the drag in the stratosphe
re.