lmd_Hourdin2006_abstracts.html
2006 .
(5 publications)F. Hourdin, I. Musat, S. Bony, P. Braconnot, F. Codron, J.-L. Dufresne, L. Fairhead, M.-A. Filiberti, P. Friedlingstein, J.-Y. Grandpeix, G. Krinner, P. Levan, Z.-X. Li, and F. Lott. The LMDZ4 general circulation model: climate performance and sensitivity to parametrized physics with emphasis on tropical convection. Climate Dynamics, 27:787-813, December 2006. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]
The LMDZ4 general circulation model is the atmospheric component of the IPSL CM4 coupled model which has been used to perform climate change simulations for the 4th IPCC assessment report. The main aspects of the model climatology (forced by observed sea surface temperature) are documented here, as well as the major improvements with respect to the previous versions, which mainly come form the parametrization of tropical convection. A methodology is proposed to help analyse the sensitivity of the tropical Hadley Walker circulation to the parametrization of cumulus convection and clouds. The tropical circulation is characterized using scalar potentials associated with the horizontal wind and horizontal transport of geopotential (the Laplacian of which is proportional to the total vertical momentum in the atmospheric column). The effect of parametrized physics is analysed in a regime sorted framework using the vertical velocity at 500 hPa as a proxy for large scale vertical motion. Compared to Tiedtkes convection scheme, used in previous versions, the Emanuels scheme improves the representation of the Hadley Walker circulation, with a relatively stronger and deeper large scale vertical ascent over tropical continents, and suppresses the marked patterns of concentrated rainfall over oceans. Thanks to the regime sorted analyses, these differences are attributed to intrinsic differences in the vertical distribution of convective heating, and to the lack of self-inhibition by precipitating downdraughts in Tiedtkes parametrization. Both the convection and cloud schemes are shown to control the relative importance of large scale convection over land and ocean, an important point for the behaviour of the coupled model.
P. Rannou, F. Montmessin, F. Hourdin, and S. Lebonnois. The Latitudinal Distribution of Clouds on Titan. Science, 311:201-205, January 2006. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]
Clouds have been observed recently on Titan, through the thick haze, using near-infrared spectroscopy and images near the south pole and in temperate regions near 40degS. Recent telescope and Cassini orbiter observations are now providing an insight into cloud climatology. To study clouds, we have developed a general circulation model of Titan that includes cloud microphysics. We identify and explain the formation of several types of ethane and methane clouds, including south polar clouds and sporadic clouds in temperate regions and especially at 40deg in the summer hemisphere. The locations, frequencies, and composition of these cloud types are essentially explained by the large-scale circulation.
F. Hourdin, O. Talagrand, and A. Idelkadi. Eulerian backtracking of atmospheric tracers. II: Numerical aspects. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 132:585-603, January 2006. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]
In Part I of this paper, a mathematical equivalence was established between Eulerian backtracking or retro-transport, on the one hand, and adjoint transport with respect to an air-mass-weighted scalar product, on the other. The time symmetry which lies at the basis of this mathematical equivalence can however be lost through discretization. That question is studied, and conditions are explicitly identified under which discretization schemes possess the property of time symmetry. Particular consideration is given to the case of the LMDZ model. The linear schemes used for turbulent diffusion and subgrid-scale convection are symmetric. For the Van Leer advection scheme used in LMDZ, which is nonlinear, the question of time symmetry does not even make sense. Those facts are illustrated by numerical simulations performed in the conditions of the European Transport EXperiment (ETEX). For a model that is not time-symmetric, the question arises as to whether it is preferable, in practical applications, to use the exact numerical adjoint, or the retro-transport model. Numerical results obtained in the context of one-dimensional advection show that the presence of slope limiters in the Van Leer advection scheme can produce in some circumstances unrealistic (in particular, negative) adjoint sensitivities. The retro-transport equation, on the other hand, generally produces robust and realistic results, and always preserves the positivity of sensitivities. Retro-transport may therefore be preferable in sensitivity computations, even in the context of variational assimilation.
F. Hourdin and O. Talagrand. Eulerian backtracking of atmospheric tracers. I: Adjoint derivation and parametrization of subgrid-scale transport. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 132:567-583, January 2006. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]
The problem of identification of sources of atmospheric tracers is most classically addressed through either Lagrangian backtracking or adjoint integration. On the basis of physical considerations, the retro-transport equation, which is at the basis of Lagrangian backtracking, can be derived in a Eulerian framework as well. Because of a fundamental time symmetry of fluid transport, Lagrangian or Eulerian backtracking can be used for inverting measurements of the concentration of an atmospheric tracer. The retro-transport equation turns out to be the adjoint of the direct transport equation, with respect to the scalar product defined by integration with respect to air mass. In the present paper, the exact equivalence between the physically-derived retro-transport and adjoint equations is proved. The transformation from the direct to the retro-transport equation requires only simple transformations. The sign of terms describing explicit advection is changed. Terms describing linear sources or sinks of tracers are kept unchanged. Terms representing diffusion by unresolved time-symmetric motions of the transporting air are also unchanged. This is rigorously shown for turbulent eddy-diffusion or mixing length theory. The case of subgrid-scale vertical transport by non-time-symmetric motions of air is studied using the example of the Tiedtke mass-flux scheme for cumulus convection. The retro-transport equation is then obtained by simply inverting the roles of updraughts and downdraughts, as well as of entrainment and detrainment. Conservation of mass of the transporting air is critical for all those properties to hold.
J.-L. Lin, G. N. Kiladis, B. E. Mapes, K. M. Weickmann, K. R. Sperber, W. Lin, M. C. Wheeler, S. D. Schubert, A. Del Genio, L. J. Donner, S. Emori, J.-F. Gueremy, F. Hourdin, P. J. Rasch, E. Roeckner, and J. F. Scinocca. Tropical Intraseasonal Variability in 14 IPCC AR4 Climate Models. Part I: Convective Signals. Journal of Climate, 19:2665, 2006. [ bib | DOI | ADS link ]