The Relationship of Column Relative Humidity with Convective and Radiative Processes in Idealized Modeling Simulations

Abstract:

We have analyzed simulations performed using the super-parameterized Community Atmosphere Model for
RCEMIP, the Radiative-Convective Equilibrium Model Intercomparison Project, which was organized by
Allison Wing and colleagues. We have binned vertical profiles of radiative cooling, convective mass flux,
buoyancy flux, and other fields by the column relative humidity. Analysis shows that when temperature
is used as the vertical coordinate, several key upper-tropospheric processes, including the buoyancy flux,
collapse onto single curves for three different fixed sea surface temperatures. We also find that vertical profiles
of alpha, the moistening parameter defined by Minoru Chikira, depend on the column relative humidity in
an interesting way. We will discuss the implications of these results for the persistence of convective self
aggregation, and also for radiative feedbacks on surface warming.