Revision of Convection and Vertical Diffusion Schemes in the NCEP Global Forecast System

Abstract A new physics package containing revised convection and planetary boundary layer (PBL) schemes in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Global Forecast System is described. The shallow convection (SC) scheme in the revision employs a mass flux parameterization replacing the old turbulent diffusion-based approach. For deep convection, the scheme is revised to make cumulus convection stronger and deeper to deplete more instability in the atmospheric column and result in the suppression of the excessive grid-scale precipitation. The PBL model was revised to enhance turbulence diffusion in stratocumulus regions. A remarkable difference between the new and old SC schemes is seen in the heating or cooling behavior in lower-atmospheric layers above the PBL. While the old SC scheme using the diffusion approach produces a pair of layers in the lower atmosphere with cooling above and heating below, the new SC scheme using the mass-flux approach produces heating throughout the convection layers. In particular, the new SC scheme does not destroy stratocumulus clouds off the west coasts of South America and Africa as the old scheme does. On the other hand, the revised deep convection scheme, having a larger cloud-base mass flux and higher cloud tops, appears to effectively eliminate the remaining instability in the atmospheric column that is responsible for the excessive grid-scale precipitation in the old scheme. The revised PBL scheme, having an enhanced turbulence mixing in stratocumulus regions, helps prevent too much low cloud from forming. An overall improvement was found in the forecasts of the global 500-hPa height, vector wind, and continental U.S. precipitation with the revised model. Consistent with the improvement in vector wind forecast errors, hurricane track forecasts are also improved with the revised model for both Atlantic and eastern Pacific hurricanes in 2008.