In models of radiative-convective equilibrium it is known that convection can spontaneously aggregate into one single localized moist region if the domain is large enough. The large changes in the mean climate state and radiative fluxes accompanying this self-aggregation raise questions as to what simulations at lower resolutions with parameterized convection, in similar homogeneous geometries, should be expected to produce to be considered successful in mimicking a cloud-resolving model.The authors investigate this self-aggregation in a nonrotating, three-dimensional cloud-resolving model on a square domain without large-scale forcing. It is found that self-aggregation is sensitive not only to the domain size, but also to the horizontal resolution. With horizontally homogeneous initial conditions, convective aggregation only occurs on domains larger than about 200 km and with resolutions coarser than about 2 km in the model examined. The system exhibits hysteresis, so that with aggregated initial conditions, convection remains aggregated even at our finest resolution, 500 m, as long as the domain is greater than 200-300 km.The sensitivity of self-aggregation to resolution and domain size in this model is due to the sensitivity of the distribution of low clouds to these two parameters. Indeed, the mechanism responsible for the aggregation of convection is the dynamical response to the longwave radiative cooling from low clouds. Strong longwave cooling near cloud top in dry regions forces downward motion, which by continuity generates inflow near cloud top and near-surface outflow from dry regions. This circulation results in the net export of moist static energy from regions with low moist static energy, yielding a positive feedback.

The organization of convection is ubiquitous, but its physical understanding remains limited. One particular type of organization is the spatial self‐aggregation of convection, taking the form of cloud clusters, or tropical cyclones in the presence of rotation. We show that several physical processes can give rise to self‐aggregation and highlight the key features responsible for it, using idealized simulations. Longwave radiative feedbacks yield a “radiative aggregation.” In that case, sufficient spatial variability of radiative cooling rates yields a low‐level circulation, which induces the upgradient energy transport and radiative‐convective instability. Not only do vertically integrated radiative budgets matter but the vertical profile of cooling is also crucial. Convective aggregation is facilitated when downdrafts below clouds are weak (“moisture‐memory aggregation”), and this is sufficient to trigger aggregation in the absence of longwave radiative feedbacks. These results shed some light on the sensitivity of self‐aggregation to various parameters, including resolution or domain size.

Organized convection in the Tropics occurs across a range of spatial and temporal scales and strongly influences cloud cover and humidity. One mode of organization found is "self-aggregation", in which moist convection spontaneously organizes into one or several isolated clusters despite spatially homogeneous boundary conditions and forcing. Self-aggregation is driven by interactions between clouds, moisture, radiation, surface fluxes, and circulation, and occurs in a wide variety of idealized simulations of radiativeconvective equilibrium. Here we provide a review of convective self-aggregation in numerical simulations, including its character, causes, and e↵ects. We describe the evolution of self-aggregation including its time and length scales and the physical mechanisms leading to its triggering and maintenance, and we also discuss possible links to climate and climate change. Keywords self-aggregation • convective organization • radiative-convective equilbrium • convective processes • tropical convection • idealized modeling

A cloud-resolving model is used to investigate the effect of warming on high percentiles of precipitation (precipitation extremes) in the idealized setting of radiative-convective equilibrium. While this idealized setting does not allow for several factors that influence precipitation in the Tropics, it does allow for an evaluation of the response of precipitation extremes to warming in simulations with resolved rather than parameterized convection. The methodology developed should also be applicable to less idealized simulations. Modeled precipitation extremes are found to increase in magnitude in response to an increase in sea surface temperature. A dry static energy budget is used to relate the changes in precipitation extremes to changes in atmospheric temperature, vertical velocity, and precipitation efficiency. To first order, the changes in precipitation extremes are captured by changes in the mean temperature structure of the atmosphere. Changes in vertical velocities play a secondary role, and tend to weaken the strength of precipitation extremes, despite an intensification of updraft velocities in the upper troposphere. The influence of changes in condensate transports on precipitation extremes is quantified in terms of a precipitation efficiency; it does not change greatly with warming. Tropical precipitation extremes have previously been found to increase at a greater fractional rate than the amount of atmospheric water vapor in observations of present-day variability and in some climate model simulations with parameterized convection. But the fractional increases in precipitation extremes in the cloud-resolving simulations are comparable in magnitude to those in surface water vapor concentrations (owing to a partial cancellation between dynamical and thermodynamical changes), and are substantially less than the fractional increases in column water vapor.

The factors governing the rate of change in the amount of atmospheric water vapor are analyzed in simulations of climate change. The global-mean amount of water vapor is estimated to increase at a differential rate of 7.3% K −1 with respect to global-mean surface air temperature in the multi-model mean. Larger rates of change result if the fractional change is evaluated over a finite change in temperature (e.g., 8.2% K −1 for a 3 K warming), and rates of change of zonal-mean column water vapor range from 6 to 12% K −1 depending on latitude.Clausius-Clapeyron scaling is directly evaluated using an invariant distribution of monthly-mean relative humidity, giving a rate of 7.4% K −1 for global-mean water vapor. There are deviations from Clausius-Clapeyron scaling of zonal-mean column water vapor in the tropics and mid-latitudes, but they largely cancel in the global mean. A purely thermodynamic scaling based on a saturated troposphere gives a higher global rate of 7.9% K −1 .Surface specific humidity increases at a rate of 5.7% K −1 , considerably lower than the rate for global-mean water vapor. Surface specific humidity closely follows Clausius-Clapeyron scaling over ocean. But there are widespread decreases in surface relative humidity over land (by more than 1% K −1 in many regions), and it is argued that decreases of this magnitude could result from the land/ocean contrast in surface warming. 1 The moist-thermodynamic formulation used is described in section 3. 2 Changes in upper-tropospheric water vapor have been extensively studied because of their importance for radiative transfer, but are not addressed here.

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Convective self-aggregation, the spontaneous organization of initially scattered convection into isolated convective clusters despite spatially homogeneous boundary conditions and forcing, was first recognized and studied in idealized numerical simulations. While there is a rich history of observational work on convective clustering and organization, there have been only a few studies that have analyzed observations to look specifically for processes related to self-aggregation in models. Here we review observational work in both of these categories and motivate the need for more of this work. We acknowledge that self-aggregation may appear to be far-removed from observed convective organization in terms of time scales, initial conditions, initiation processes, and mean state extremes, but we argue that these differences vary greatly across the diverse range of 123Surv Geophys (2017) 38:1199-1236 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-017-9419-1 model simulations in the literature and that these comparisons are already offering important insights into real tropical phenomena. Some preliminary new findings are presented, including results showing that a self-aggregation simulation with square geometry has too broad distribution of humidity and is too dry in the driest regions when compared with radiosonde records from Nauru, while an elongated channel simulation has realistic representations of atmospheric humidity and its variability. We discuss recent work increasing our understanding of how organized convection and climate change may interact, and how model discrepancies related to this question are prompting interest in observational comparisons. We also propose possible future directions for observational work related to convective aggregation, including novel satellite approaches and a groundbased observational network.

[1] Internal tide driven mixing plays a key role in sustaining the deep ocean stratification and meridional overturning circulation. Internal tides can be generated by topographic horizontal scales ranging from hundreds of meters to tens of kilometers. State of the art topographic products barely resolve scales smaller than 10 km in the deep ocean. On these scales abyssal hills dominate ocean floor roughness. The impact of abyssal hill roughness on internal-tide generation is evaluated in this study. The conversion of M 2 barotropic to baroclinic tidal energy is calculated based on linear wave theory both in real and spectral space using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SRTM30_PLUS bathymetric product at 1/120 resolution with and without the addition of synthetic abyssal hill roughness. Internal tide generation by abyssal hills integrates to 0.1 TW globally or 0.03 TW when the energy flux is empirically corrected for supercritical slope (i.e., 10% of the energy flux due to larger topographic scales resolved in standard products in both cases). The abyssal hill driven energy conversion is dominated by mid-ocean ridges, where abyssal hill roughness is large. Focusing on two regions located over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise, it is shown that regionally linear theory predicts an increase of the energy flux due to abyssal hills of up to 100% or 60% when an empirical correction for supercritical slopes is attempted. Therefore, abyssal hills, unresolved in state of the art topographic products, can have a strong impact on internal tide generation, especially over mid-ocean ridges.