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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2026-3746</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>A pathway-based evaluation of MJO simulation in the Community Atmosphere Model version 6 (CAM6): linking parameter sensitivities to moisture and cloud&amp;ndash;radiation processes</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhou</surname>
<given-names>Xuan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wang</surname>
<given-names>Lu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4811-8847</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kim</surname>
<given-names>Daehyun</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chen</surname>
<given-names>Lin</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6651-4627</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhu</surname>
<given-names>Yesheng</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Haoqian</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Climate System Prediction and Risk Management/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education/Collaborative   Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing  University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao Marine  Science and Technology Center, Qingdao, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South  Korea</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Zhanjiang Air Traffic Management Station, Civil Aviation Administration of China, Zhanjiang, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>20</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>53</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Xuan Zhou et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3746/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3746/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3746/egusphere-2026-3746.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2026/egusphere-2026-3746/egusphere-2026-3746.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>A pathway-based diagnostic framework is proposed to bridge perturbed parameter ensemble (PPE) sensitivity analysis and process-oriented moist static energy (MSE) budget diagnostics for evaluating Madden&amp;ndash;Julian Oscillation (MJO) simulation in general circulation models. The framework connects statistical parameter sensitivities to the physical processes that shape MJO behavior and provides a mapping between influential parameter perturbations and process-level pathways. Applied to the Community Atmosphere Model version 6 (CAM6) using a 128-member PPE, the framework identifies three dominant parameters: the fractional entrainment rate (&lt;em&gt;dmpdz&lt;/em&gt;) and the convective adjustment timescale (&lt;em&gt;tau&lt;/em&gt;) in the Zhang-McFarlane deep convection scheme, and the stratiform ice fall speed (&lt;em&gt;ai&lt;/em&gt;) in the Morrison-Gettelman version 2 microphysics scheme. Targeted experiments show that improved MJO skill is associated with two well-supported pathways. The first pathway involves an increase in &lt;em&gt;dmpdz&lt;/em&gt;, which suppresses premature deep convection and restores the equatorial low-level moisture distribution, enabling realistic meridional MSE advection that drives MJO eastward propagation. The second pathway involves a reduction in &lt;em&gt;ai&lt;/em&gt;, which prolongs the residence time of upper-tropospheric ice and enhances high cloud cover along the MJO propagation pathway, strengthening the developmental-phase longwave cloud&amp;ndash;radiation feedback that supports MJO maintenance. The role of &lt;em&gt;tau&lt;/em&gt; is also important, but its specific pathway cannot be fully isolated within the present experimental design. The improved MJO simulation does not degrade the mean precipitation metrics examined here, indicating that the targeted parameter changes do not come at the expense of the simulated mean rainfall pattern in CAM6. This framework provides a process-based strategy for model evaluation and parameter calibration in general circulation models with comparable convection and cloud microphysics schemes.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42088101</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>National Research Foundation of Korea</funding-source>
<award-id>RS-2024-00336160</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Korea Meteorological Administration</funding-source>
<award-id>RS-2025-02221669</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
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