New Advances in Cloud Modeling: How 3D Radiation Impacts Cloud Dynamics and Properties

Larry Di Girolamo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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One of the leading sources of uncertainty in weather and climate predictions lies in the crude treatment of cloud processes within our models. Here we aim to address the crude representation of radiative transfer in current atmospheric models by providing the first coupling between a cloud dynamics model and an exact broadband 3D radiative transfer model. As such, our overarching goal is to quantify and understand the importance of full 3D radiative transfer on cumulus cloud properties and their evolution. We anticipate that the large improvements in localized heating rates will have a large impact in cloud size, lifetime, and microphysical properties that could fill the gap between numerical results and observations.