Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-22-2018
Abstract
Physical insights into processes governing temporal organization and evolution of cloud fields are of great importance for climate research. Here using large eddy simulations with a bin microphysics scheme, we show that warm convective cloud fields exhibit oscillations with two distinct periods (~10 and ~90 min, for the case studied here). The shorter period dominates the nonprecipitating phase, and the longer period is related to the precipitating phase. We show that rain processes affect the domain's thermodynamics, hence forcing the field into a low‐frequency recharge‐discharge cycle of developing cloudiness followed by precipitation‐driven depletion. The end result of precipitation is stabilization of the lower atmosphere by warming of the cloudy layer (due to latent heat release) and cooling of the subcloud layer (by rain evaporation, creating cold pools). As the thermodynamic instability weakens, so does the cloudiness, and the rain ceases. During the nonprecipitating phase of the cycle, surface fluxes destabilize the boundary layer until the next precipitation cycle. Under conditions that do not allow development of precipitation (e.g., high aerosol loading), high‐frequency oscillations dominate the cloud field. Clouds penetrating the stable inversion layer trigger gravity waves with a typical period of ~10 min. In return, the gravity waves modulate the clouds in the field by modifying the vertical velocity, temperature, and humidity fields. Subsequently, as the polluted nonprecipitating simulations evolve, the thermodynamic instability increases and the cloudy layer deepens until precipitation forms, shifting the oscillations from high to low frequency. The organization of cold pools and the spatial scale related to these oscillations are explored.
Publication Title
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Dagan, G.,
Koren, I.,
Kostinski, A.,
&
Altaratz, O.
(2018).
Organization and oscillations in simulated shallow convective clouds.
Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems,
10(9), 2287-2299.
http://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001416
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/physics-fp/159
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
© 2018 American Geophysical Union. Article deposited here in compliance with publisher policies. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1029/2018MS001416