Parametrization of orographic effects on surface radiation in HIRLAM

A parametrization scheme for orographic effects on surface radiation was introduced in the High Resolution Limited Area Model. One-kilometre resolution digital elevation data were used to derive the needed orographic parameters. The scheme is applicable within a model setup of any resolution, but is shown to significantly affect the local near-surface temperatures only when the horizontal resolution is less than a few kilometres. Then, typical maximum local differences due to the new parametrizations are 50–100Wm−2 in the net radiation fluxes and 1◦–3◦ in the screen-level temperature. Interactions between clouds and radiation were detected both in the single-column and three-dimensional sensitivity experiments.