Vertical motions inside convection analyzed from EarthCARE satellite Cloud Radar observations and a global storm-resolving simulation

Host:

Presenter: Professor Masaki Satoh, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo

Location: ATS 101 Main Classroom

The newly launched EarthCARE satellite, featuring the first-ever space-borne Doppler radar via its Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), provides unprecedented insights into mesoscale circulation structures within convective clouds. Complementing these observations, global kilometer-scale atmospheric simulations using NICAM—with horizontal mesh sizes of 870 meters and 3.5 kilometers—reproduce cross-sectional views of convective systems that closely resemble those observed by EarthCARE. The NICAM simulations also offer detailed time-evolving three-dimensional structures of mesoscale convective systems, enabling in-depth analysis of convective dynamics.

By generating EarthCARE-CPR-like signals from the NICAM output, key characteristics of vertical motions within convection can be extracted and examined. This approach enables the direct identification of hydrometeor updrafts and downdrafts, along with their associated mass transports, from EarthCARE observations. These findings highlight the significant synergy between advanced satellite observations and high-resolution numerical simulations, paving the way for enhanced understanding and representation of convective processes in weather and climate models.

We also propose possible intercomparison experiments for global km-scale models, including ECOMIP, to evaluate the models using EarthCARE satellite data.