Simulating Closed-to-Open Mesoscale Cellular Convection over the Southern Ocean. Part I: Evaluation using SOCRATES and CAPRICORN observations

Abstract

Understanding Earth's climate sensitivity remains a critical challenge for improving climate projections. Discrepancies between recent and previous generations of climate models highlight the need for better representation of low-level clouds over the Southern Ocean (SO)—a region with unique modeling challenges due to complex interactions among dynamics, microphysics, and radiation, compounded by a historical lack of in situ observations. This study evaluates the performance of a convection-permitting WRF model configuration during post-frontal conditions, using recent field campaign data and satellite observations for validation. Our results show that the simulation effectively reproduces t..