Representing the Subgrid Surface Heterogeneity of Precipitation in a General Circulation Model

Abstract

Precipitation is highly variable on spatial scales smaller than a typical general circulation model (GCM) grid box. Neglecting this subgrid-scale variability can impact the simulation of the underlying land surface and its coupling with the atmosphere. In this study we present a scheme to stochastically disaggregate precipitation from an atmospheric grid to an underlying mosaic of surface tiles, using an assumed probability distribution of subgrid precipitation derived from observations. Unlike previous GCM-based schemes, our approach includes a treatment of memory to allow persistence of subgrid features. In single column model experiments, we demonstrate the ability of the scheme to reproduce observed precipitation statistics at the spatial scale of the surface tiles. The root mean square error of hourly spatial standard deviation of precipitation is reduced from 1.90 to 0.96 mm hr−1 when disaggregation is applied. The scheme increases the spatial standard deviations of surface heat fluxes, soil moisture and temperature, and we show that incorporating memory amplifies these increases by a factor of 2–4. We also document increases in mean precipitation runoff and the Bowen ratio.