Regional regime‐based evaluation of present‐day General Circulation Model cloud simulations using self‐organizing maps

Journal of Geophysical Research, Atmospheres (2018)

Model evaluations have consistently identified problems with cloud simulation, which can generate further errors in climate simulations.

Here we generated cloud clusters derived from cloud top pressure‐cloud optical thickness (CTP‐COT) joint histograms from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data set, and clustered them with the self‐organizing map (SOM) technique.

The clusters identified from the MODIS data were then compared with the HadGEM (GA7) Cloud Feedback Model Intercomparison Project Observation Simulator Package (COSP).

The overall differences in the occurrence rates show major discrepancies in several clusters, and geographical differences are strongly regional and unique to each cluster.