The University of Tokyo · Earth and Planetary Sciences
Professor Masaki Satoh's research lab specializes in high-resolution global atmospheric modeling, with a focus on non-hydrostatic and cloud-resolving models that simulate multiscale atmospheric processes with kilometer-scale accuracy. The lab pioneers the development of the Non-hydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM), advancing global weather and climate simulations through conservative numerical schemes and advanced physical parameterizations. Their work emphasizes the representation of moist convection, cloud feedbacks, and radiative-convective equilibrium dynamics to improve climate sensitivity and predictability. The lab also engages in model intercomparisons and satellite data validation to enhance the realism and reliability of global atmospheric models.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
This article reviews the development of a global non-hydrostatic model, focusing on the pioneering research of the Non-hydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM). Very high resolution global atmospheric circulation simulations with horizontal mesh spacing of approximately O (km) were conducted using recently developed supercomputers. These types of simulations were conducted with a specifically designed atmospheric global model based on a quasi-uniform grid mesh structure and a non-hydros
Global cloud-resolving models (GCRMs) are a new type of atmospheric model which resolve nonhydrostatic accelerations globally with kilometer-scale resolution. This review explains what distinguishes GCRMs from other types of models, the problems they solve, and the questions their more commonplace use is raising. GCRMs require high-resolution discretization over the sphere but can differ in many other respects. They are beginning to be used as a main stream research tool. The first GCRM intercom
Abstract. RCEMIP, an intercomparison of multiple types of models configured in radiative–convective equilibrium (RCE), is proposed. RCE is an idealization of the climate system in which there is a balance between radiative cooling of the atmosphere and heating by convection. The scientific objectives of RCEMIP are three-fold. First, clouds and climate sensitivity will be investigated in the RCE setting. This includes determining how cloud fraction changes with warming and the role of self-aggreg
A new dynamical scheme with the conservative forms of the equations of density, momentum, and internal energy is proposed for the nonhydrostatic models. With this scheme, the conservations of the mass and the total energy are satisfied within round-off errors. In particular, methods for the integration of energy are discussed in detail, and three of the approaches are compared; one is in the form of the pressure equation, the second is the integration of internal energy with corrections on the t
This study proposes a method of using a local‐area cloud system resolving model (LCRM) to evaluate and improve cloud properties simulated by a global cloud system resolving model (GCRM). We study the sensitivity to cloud microphysics schemes by comparing the simulated data of LCRM with CloudSat and Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) using satellite simulators. In particular, the impacts of the improved cloud microphysics scheme, which is more comprehensiv
Hadley circulations in radiative–convective equilibrium are investigated using an idealistic axially symmetric model. Calculations show that the distribution of temperature in the Hadley cell is controlled by the moist process; the vertical profiles are close to the moist-adiabatic profile in the precipitating ascent branch, and the latitudinal distribution is nearly uniform. A sharp meridional temperature gradient exists within the poleward sloping boundary of the cell. Similar to Held and Hou,
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