| NSF Org: |
AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 23, 2010 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | February 12, 2013 |
| Award Number: | 0968609 |
| Award Instrument: | Continuing Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Eric DeWeaver
edeweave@nsf.gov (703)292-8527 AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2010 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $309,208.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $577,881.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2011 = $101,063.00 FY 2012 = $106,640.00 FY 2013 = $268,673.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA US 98195-1016 (206)543-4043 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA US 98195-1016 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Climate & Large-Scale Dynamics |
| Primary Program Source: |
01001112DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001213DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT 01001314DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
This grant will support a collaborative research effort at three universities and three government laboratories to develop a method to represent liquid water clouds in the atmospheric boundary layer (i.e. at levels within about 2km of the surface). The method, which has the acronym CLUBB (clouds unified by binormals), will address the disparity between the size of a climate model grid box (typically 100km) and the much smaller sizes of the updrafts and downdrafts which occur in boundary layer clouds (perhaps 100m). The research will use a variety of observations in concert with simulations from more detailed models (including large-eddy simulation models) to construct joint probability density functions (PDFs) for vertical velocity, temperature, moisture, and hydrometeor species. The PDFs will then be used to simulate the formation of clouds (particularly boundary layer cumulus and stratocumulus clouds) and the extent to which cloud reflectivity and other properties are determined by aerosols. CLUBB will be implemented in two climate models, one at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and one at the NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. The research was proposed in responsee to a solicitation for Climate Process and Modeling Teams (CPTs), which are intended to perform work yielding improvements to climate models over a three-year time period.
The results of this CPT project are expected to have broad scientific and practical benefits, since climate models are a basic research tool in climate-related research. Furthermore, climate models are increasingly in demand as tools for decision support by policy makers considering strategies to address climate variability and climate change. Thus, improvements in climate models offer the prospect of better guidance for policy decisions. In addition, the grant will support the education of three graduate students, and for the employment and mentoring of three postdoctoral researchers.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The work conducted under this grant aimed to evaluate and improve the performance of a new type of physical model to describe turbulence and clouds called CLUBB. CLUBB represents a fresh approach to simulating clouds and their interactions with the environment in climate models because it unifies what have typically been three separate models (that describe turbulent mixing, cloud physical processes, and shallow convection) into a single model. CLUBB is embedded within a climate model and is a key component needed to make climate change projections to investigate how clouds will respond to increasing greenhouse gases and aerosol particles.
The University of Washington (UW) role in the project has been to use observational datasets from satellites and from field projects, to develop new metrics to test the ability of CLUBB (and other models) to represent cloud properties and processes accurately. Speciifc focus has been on developing ways to test the ability of CLUBB to represent the properties of small cloud droplets and how these work to produce rain. Aircraft data from the NSF-funded VOCALS Regional Experiment over the southeastern Pacific Ocean were used to estimate the rates at which cloud droplets coalesce to form small precipitation drops called drizzle. These process rates were found to scale strongly with the total amount of liquid in the cloud, and this relationship was used to compare with several leading models including CLUBB. The CLUBB model developers then undertook further development and improved the representation of microphysical process rates.
A second product from the UW is a new climatology from satellites which estimates the concentration of cloud droplets in low clouds. Considerable work needed to be undertaken to develop this climatology because satellite estimates are subject to many biases that can give misleading information if left uncorrected. These estimates are now being used by a variety of groups to evaluate the performance of models.
Throughout the project, the UW team collaborated with the larger group, including two of the leading US modeling centers. The project also trained a postdoctoral research and provided leadership opportunities to early career scientists.
Last Modified: 12/10/2015
Modified by: Robert Wood
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