Is an international atmospheric research collaboration studying clouds and improving their representation in weather and climate models.
GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) Working Group 4 (WG4) studies the Global Energy and Water Cycle, mainly via Precipitating Convective Cloud Systems, concerned with deep convection—the rising air that produces thunderstorms and other rain-bearing cloud systems.
Our Practical Includes
- Comparing computer models: Different research teams simulate the same cloud events and compare results with observations.
- Studying specific cases: tropical oceanic convection during TOGA COARE and continental storms observed at the US Southern Great Plains research site.
- Improving forecasting: The aim is to improve the simplified descriptions of cloud processes—called parameterizations—used in larger weather and climate models.