Hiroshi Taniguchi

By comparison with satellite and field observations, the comprehensive performance and potential utility of near real-time forecasts using Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) are demonstrated by exploiting the Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment on Intraseasonal Variability in the Year 2011 (CINDY2011)/Dynamics of the Madden Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) campaign. A week-long forecast was run each day using a regionally stretched version of NICAM, with the finest mesh size of 14 km over the tropical Indian Ocean (10), throughout the intensive observation period (IOP). The simulated precipitation time series fairly represented the evolution and propagation of the observed Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) events, although a 30 % overprediction of precipitation over the IO domain (60-90 degrees E, 10 degrees S-10 degrees N) was found on average. Frequencies of strong (> 40 mm day(-1)) precipitation were over predicted, while those of weak precipitation were underpredicted against satellite observations. Compared with the field observations at Can island, the biases in precipitation frequency were less obvious, whereas the growth of lower to middle tropospheric dry (similar to 1 g kg(-1)) and warm (similar to 1 K) biases were found. Despite these mean biases, temporal variations of the moisture and zonal wind profiles including the MJO events were reasonably simulated. Using the forecast data the moisture and energy budgets during the IOP were investigated. The diagnosis using the 7-day-mean fields captured the observed features of the MJO events. Meanwhile, significant upward transport of moisture by the grid-resolved high-frequency variability was detected throughout the IOP. The relationship between these high-frequency effects and the simulated WO or mean biases is also discussed.

The present study assesses the forecast skill of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) observed during the period of DYNAMO (Dynamics of the MJO)/CINDY (Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment on Intraseasonal Variability in Year 2011) field campaign in the GFS (NCEP Global Forecast System), CFSv2 (NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2) and UH (University of Hawaii) models, and revealed their strength and weakness in forecasting initiation and propagation of the MJO. Overall, the models forecast better the successive MJO which follows the preceding event than that with no preceding event (primary MJO). The common modeling problems include too slow eastward propagation, the Maritime Continent barrier and weak intensity. The forecasting skills of MJO major modes reach 13, 25 and 28 days, respectively, in the GFS atmosphere-only model, the CFSv2 and UH coupled models. An equal-weighted multi-model ensemble with the CFSv2 and UH models reaches 36 days. Air-sea coupling plays an important role for initiation and propagation of the MJO and largely accounts for the skill difference between the GFS and CFSv2. A series of forecasting experiments by forcing UH model with persistent, forecasted and observed daily SST further demonstrate that: (1) air-sea coupling extends MJO skill by about 1 week; (2) atmosphere-only forecasts driven by forecasted daily SST have a similar skill as the coupled forecasts, which suggests that if the high-resolution GFS is forced with CFSv2 forecasted daily SST, its forecast skill can be much higher than its current level as forced with persistent SST; (3) atmosphere-only forecasts driven by observed daily SST reaches beyond 40 days. It is also found that the MJO-TC (Tropical Cyclone) interactions have been much better represented in the UH and CFSv2 models than that in the GFS model. Both the CFSv2 and UH coupled models reasonably well capture the development of westerly wind bursts associated with November 2011 MJO and the cyclogenesis of TC05A in the Indian Ocean with a lead time of 2 weeks. However, the high-resolution GFS atmosphere-only model fails to reproduce the November MJO and the genesis of TC05A at 2 weeks' lead. This result highlights the necessity to get MJO right in order to ensure skillful extended-range TC forecasting.

REVOLUTIONIZING CLIMATE MODELING WITH PROJECT ATHENA: A MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL, INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION The importance of using dedicated high-end computing resources to enable high spatial resolution in global climate models and advance knowledge of the climate system has been evaluated in an international collaboration called Project Athena. Inspired by the World Modeling Summit of 2008 and made possible by the availability of dedicated high-end computing resources provided by the National Science Foundation from October 2009 through March 2010, Project Athena demonstrated the sensitivity of climate simulations to spatial resolution and to the representation of subgrid-scale processes with horizontal resolutions up to 10 times higher than contemporary climate models. While many aspects of the mean climate were found to be reassuringly similar, beyond a suggested minimum resolution, the magnitudes and structure of regional effects can differ substantially. Project Athena served as a pilot project to demonstrate, that an effective international collaboration can be formed to efficiently exploit dedicated supercomputing resources. The outcomes to date suggest that, in addition to substantial and dedicated computing resources, future climate modeling and prediction require a substantial research effort to efficiently explore the fidelity of climate models when explicitly resolving important atmospheric and oceanic processes. (Page 231)