The Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in Regional Spectral Model Simulations over West Africa: Sensitivities to Resolution and Cumulus Schemes

Abstract

As a basic form of climate patterns, the diurnal cycle of precipitation (DCP) can provide a key test bed for model reliability and development. In this study, the DCP over West Africa was simulated by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Regional Spectral Model (RSM) during the monsoon season (April-September) of 2005. Three convective parameterization schemes (CPSs), single-layer simplified Arakawa-Schubert (SAS), multilayer relaxed Arakawa-Schubert (RAS), and new Kain-Fritsch (KF2), were evaluated at two horizontal resolutions (20 and 10 km). The Benin mesoscale site was singled out for additional investigation of resolution effects. Harmonic analysis was used to characterize the phase and amplitude of the DCP. Compared to satellite observations, the overall spatial distributions of amplitude were well captured at regional scales. The RSM properly reproduced the observed late afternoon peak over land and the early morning peak over ocean. Nevertheless, the peak time was early. Sensitivity experiments of CPSs showed similar spatial patterns of rainfall totals among the schemes; CPSs mainly affected the amplitude of the diurnal cycle, while the phase was not significantly shifted. There is no clear optimal pairing of resolution and CPS. However, it is found that the sensitivity of DCP to CPSs and resolution varies with the partitioning between convective and stratiform, which implies that appropriate partitioning needs to be considered for future development of CPSs in global or regional climate models.