The Problem of Convective Moistening

Abstract

Convective representations strive to simulate, in a realistic way, convective precipitation and the feedback of convection upon the explicitly simulated flow. The prediction of convective precipitation and convective heating are of obvious importance and a great deal of work has been devoted to improving and evaluating the fidelity with which convective schemes reproduce these quantities. Historically, the moistening of the atmosphere by convection has been of secondary concern, perhaps because it is not obviously of great importance to very short range weather prediction. On the other hand, it must become an increasingly important concern as the range of the forecast increases, while it is arguably among the most important problems in climate simulations, given that water vapor is the most important feedback mechanism in virtually all climate simulations performed to date.