A Simple Cloud Parameterization Derived from Cloud Resolving Model Data: Diagnostic and Prognostic Applications

A simple statistical parameterization of cloud water-related variables that has been originally developed for nonprecipitating boundary layer clouds is extended for all cloud types including deep precipitating convection. Based on three-dimensional cloud resolving model (CRM) simulations of observed tropical maritime and continental midlatitude convective periods, expressions for the partial cloudiness and the cloud water content are derived, which are a function of the normalized saturation deficit Q 1 . It turns out that these relations are equivalent to boundary layer cloud relations described earlier, therefore allowing for a general description of subgrid-scale clouds.