MIDLATITUDE CYCLONIC CLOUD SYSTEMS AND THEIR FEATURES AFFECTING LARGESCALES AND CLIMATE

Midlatitude cyclonic cloud systems are common occurrences that signifi cantly impact our climate. In this review, attention is paid to those physical characteristics of these cloud systems with large-scale impac ts that must be accounted for in climate simulations. Such attributes include atmospheric forcing, internal structure, surface influences, c loud layering, microphysics, precipitation, water cycling, and radiati on. Because of their present limitations associated with, for example, grid sizes and simplified parameterizations, climate models cannot ac count for all the crucial impacts of these cloud systems. Future advan ces in the representation of these systems within climate models will need to rely in part on rigorous assessments of model capabilities in a variety of conditions.