Incentivizing research on model development: Experiences from a Climate Process Team project on cloud macrophysics and aerosol indirect effects

We are completing the fourth and penultimate year of a CPT project on clouds and aerosols. In the course of the project, a new type of parameterization of subgrid variability in clouds has been implemented in two climate models, evaluated with observations, and shown to produce satisfactory results. Moreover, the magnitude of the aerosol indirect effect has been improved (reduced) by moving from a diagnostic treatment of precipitation to a prognostic one.

Our CPT consists of climate modelers, observationalists, and process modelers. The collaboration has proven fruitful in several ways. While fostering collaboration is a good way to accelerate research, another way, which is sometimes overlooked, is fostering competition. This talk will discuss existing types of competition, such as GCSS intercomparisons and forecast competitions, and will speculate about ways to make such competitions more beneficial to the community.