Lin, J. W.-B., and J. D. Neelin, 2000: "Influence of a stochastic moist convective parameterization on tropical climate variability," Geophys. Res. Lett., Vol. 27, No. 22, pp. 3691-3694. © Copyright 2000 by the American Geophysical Union. Further electronic distribution is not allowed.
Convective parameterizations used in general circulation models (GCMs)
generally only simulate the mean or first-order moment of convective
ensembles and do not explicitly include higher-order moments.
The influence of including unresolved higher-order moments is
investigated using a simple stochastic convective parameterization
that includes a random contribution to the convective available
potential energy (CAPE) in the deep convective scheme. Impacts are tested in
an tropical atmospheric model of intermediate complexity.
Adding convective noise noticeably affects tropical intraseasonal
variability, suggesting inclusion of such noise in GCMs might be
beneficial. Model response to the noise is sensitive not only to the
noise amplitude, but also to such particulars of the stochastic
parameterization as autocorrelation time.