Orographic cirrus in the global climate model ECHAM5

Abstract

A comparison of satellite data with simulations from global circulation models shows that there is a lack of cirrus cloud amount in large-scale models above and in the lee of mountains. The formation of orographic cirrus clouds due to gravity waves is usually not parameterized in large-scale models. To improve the simulation of such orographically excited cirrus clouds a coupling of the gravity wave dynamics and the cloud microphysics has been implemented in the climate model European Centre/Hamburg 5 (ECHAM5). As homogeneous freezing of solution droplets strongly depends on the vertical velocity, an increased vertical velocity due to gravity wave activity in the upper troposphere leads to the formation of cirrus clouds with higher ice crystal number densities. A comparison of the new parameterization with measurements shows a better agreement with observations.