ALBERT

Description: This paper documents coupled simulations of two developmental versions of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) towards CAM6. The configuration called CAM5.4 introduces new microphysics, aerosol, and ice nucleation changes, among others to CAM. The CAM5.5 configuration represents a more radical departure as it uses an assumed PDF-based unified cloud parameterization to replace the turbulence, shallow convection, and warm cloud macrophysics in CAM. This assumed PDF method has been widely used in the last decade in atmosphere-only climate simulations, but has never been documented in coupled mode. Here we compare the simulated coupled climates of CAM5.4 and CAM5.5 and compare them to the control coupled simulation produced by CAM5.3. We find that CAM5.5 has lower cloud forcing biases when compared to the control simulations. Improvements are also seen in the simulated amplitude of the El Niño 3.4 index, an improved representation of the diurnal cycle of precipitation, sub-tropical surface wind stresses, and double Intertropical Convergence zone biases.  Degradations are seen in Amazon precipitation as well as slightly colder sea surface temperatures and thinner Arctic Sea Ice. Simulation of the 20th century results in a credible simulation that ends slightly colder than the control coupled simulation. The authors find this is due to aerosol indirect effects that are slightly stronger in the new version of the model and propose a solution to ameliorate this. Overall, in these relatively untuned coupled simulations, CAM5.5 produces a credible climate that is appropriate for science applications and is ready for integration into the National Center for Atmospheric Research's (NCAR's) next generation climate model.