Improved Treatment of Surface Turbulent Fluxes over Sea Ice: Towards a Unified Parameterization over Land, Ocean, and Snow/Ice in Climate Models

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This project seeks to improve the understanding and representation, in climate models, of the turbulent exchanges between the atmosphere and snow and ice over oceans and land. The principal objectives are (a) the intercomparison of various parameterization schemes for atmospheric turbulent surface fluxes over sea ice, (b) improving the computation of roughness lengths over sea ice, as well as the turbulent exchange coefficients under very stable conditions, (c) quantifying the impacts of turbulent flux parameterization on the simulation of snow/ice over ocean and land, and (d) evaluating the impact of a unified turbulent flux parameterization over land, ocean and sea ice in a global climate simulation. The improved formulations expected from this project could be adopted in the NCAR Community Climate System Model for community-wide use. The project will provide training for graduate students, while research results will be included in undergraduate and graduate teaching courses.