Convective controls on anvil cloud evolution in the ICON km-scale global climate model

Journal article

Deep convective clouds substantially modify the balance of shortwave and longwave radiative energy at the top of the atmosphere. Although in the present-day these effects approximately balance out, projected changes in deep convective clouds could alter the future top-of-atmosphere energy balance. Past studies have found relationships between convection and anvil clouds, but our understanding of how convection typically controls the properties and evolution of anvil clouds that determine anvil radiative effects remains incomplete, limiting our ability to explain or justify projected changes in cloud optical properties. This manuscript presents a new method to track the lifecycle of deep convective clouds and their convective cores in three-dimensional space in km-scale global climate models. An analysis of how convective organisation, intensity and area relate to anvil properties in the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic (ICON) model is then presented. Approximately 1000 deep convective clouds are tracked over one simulation week in the tropical Amazon region. We find that while both updraft intensity and area correspond to larger anvils, the correlation between convective area and anvil size is stronger than that between anvil size and updraft intensity. Updraft intensity was associated with a 4-fold increase in anvil extent when convective cores were larger, compared to when they were in the bottom 50th size percentile. This result could not be explained by associated changes in peak convective mass flux or organisation. These results indicate how changes in the frequency or typical size of convective updrafts may link to changes in anvil development, extent and, ultimately, radiative effects.

Authors: Ritman, M; Jones, W; Stier, P

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Copernicus Publications
• Journal: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 10
• Pages: 7105-7126
• Publication date: 2026-05-22
• Acceptance date: 2026-05-11
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-26-7105-2026
• EISSN: 1680-7324
• ISSN: 1680-7316
• Language: English