Simulation of the Indian Summer Monsoon in the Superparameterized Climate Forecast System Version 2: Preliminary Results

Abstract

An analysis of a 5-yr (from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013) free run of the superparameterized (SP) Climate Forecast System (CFS) version 2 (CFSv2) (SP-CFS), implemented for the first time at a spectral triangular truncation at wavenumber 62 (T62) atmospheric horizontal resolution, is presented. The SP-CFS simulations are evaluated against observations and traditional convection parameterized CFSv2 simulations at T62 resolution as well as at some higher resolutions. The metrics for evaluating the model performance are chosen in order to mainly address the improvement in systematic biases observed in the CFSv2 documented in earlier studies. While the primary focus of this work is on evaluating the improvement of the simulation of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) by the SP-CFS model, some results are also presented within the context of the global climate. The SP-CFS significantly reduces the dry bias of precipitation over the Indian subcontinent and better captures the monsoon intraseasonal oscillation (MISO) modes. SP-CFS also improves the northward and eastward propagation of high- and low-frequency modes of ISM. Compared to CFSv2, the SP-CFS model simulates improved convectively coupled equatorial waves; better temperature structures both spatially and vertically, leading to a significantly improved relative distribution of variance for the synoptic disturbances and low-frequency tropical intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs). This analysis of the development of SP-CFS is particularly important as it shows promise for improving the cloud process representation through an SP framework and is able to improve the mean as well as intraseasonal characteristics of CFSv2 within the context of the ISM.