David B. Mechem

Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade-wind cumulus as observed during RICO

Twelve large-eddy simulations, with a wide range of microphysical representations, are compared to each other and to independent measurements. The measurements and the initial and forcing data for the simulations are taken from the undisturbed period of the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field study. A regional downscaling of meteorological analyses is performed so as to provide forcing data consistent with the measurements. The ensemble average of the simulations plausibly reproduces many features of the observed clouds, including the vertical structure of cloud fraction, profiles of cloud and rain water, and to a lesser degree the population density of rain drops. The simulations do show considerable departures from one another in the representation of the cloud microphysical structure and the ensuant surface precipitation rates, increasingly so for the more simplified microphysical models. There is a robust tendency for simulations that develop rain to produce a shallower, somewhat more stable cloud layer. Relations between cloud cover and precipitation are ambiguous.

Clouds, Aerosol, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer: An ARM Mobile Facility Deployment

© Copyright 2015 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a web site or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy, available on the AMS Web site located at (https://www.ametsoc.org/) or from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or copyrights@ametsoc.org.

Observations of Stratocumulus Clouds and Their Effect on the Eastern Pacific Surface Heat Budget along 20°S

AbstractWidespread stratocumulus clouds were observed on nine transects from seven research cruises to the southeastern tropical Pacific Ocean along 20°S, 75°–85°W in October–November of 2001–08. The nine transects sample a unique combination of synoptic and interannual variability affecting the clouds; their ensemble diagnoses longitude–vertical sections of the atmosphere, diurnal cycles of cloud properties and drizzle statistics, and the effect of stratocumulus clouds on surface radiation. Mean cloud fraction was 0.88, and 67% of 10-min overhead cloud fraction observations were overcast. Clouds cleared in the afternoon [1500 local time (LT)] to a minimum of fraction of 0.7. Precipitation radar found strong drizzle with reflectivity above 40 dBZ.Cloud-base (CB) heights rise with longitude from 1.0 km at 75°W to 1.2 km at 85°W in the mean, but the slope varies from cruise to cruise. CB–lifting condensation level (LCL) displacement, a measure of decoupling, increases westward. At night CB–LCL is 0–200 m an...

Thermodynamic and Aerosol Controls in Southeast Pacific Stratocumulus

AbstractA near-large-eddy simulation approach with size-revolving (bin) microphysics is employed to evaluate the relative sensitivity of southeast Pacific marine boundary layer cloud properties to thermodynamic and aerosol parameters. Simulations are based on a heavily drizzling cloud system observed by the NOAA ship Ronald H. Brown during the Variability of the American Monsoon Systems (VAMOS) Ocean–Cloud–Atmosphere–Land Study—Regional Experiment (VOCALS-Rex) field campaign. A suite of numerical experiments examines the sensitivity of drizzle to variations in boundary layer depth and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration in a manner consistent with the variability of those parameters observed during VOCALS-Rex. All four simulations produce cellular structures and turbulence characteristics of a circulation driven predominantly in a bottom-up fashion. The cloud and subcloud layers are coupled by strong convective updrafts that provide moisture to the cloud layer. Distributions of reflectivity calc...

Simulating the Transition from Drizzling Marine Stratocumulus to Boundary Layer Cumulus with a Mesoscale Model

A case of coastal California summer season boundary layer cloud has been simulated with the U.S. Navy Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System and the results analyzed in the context of consistency with conclusions derived from large eddy simulation‐based (LES) studies. Results show a pronounced diurnal cycle and fair agreement with satellite-derived observations of liquid water path. When drizzle processes are included, a significant degree of mesoscale organization emerges in the form of cloud bands, accompanied by a transition from a well-mixed boundary layer topped by unbroken stratocumulus cloud into a more potentially unstable, convective boundary layer regime. The transition and the subsequent development of mesoscale variability is analogous to the drizzle-induced cloud breakup produced in large eddy simulation studies. The dynamics of the pure stratocumulus cloud are dictated by the model’s subgrid parameterization, while the more convective regime exhibits appreciable vertical velocities characteristic of an ensemble of cumulus updrafts. The existence of convective updrafts is tied to a weak drizzle-induced decoupling of the cloud and subcloud layer, after which air of higher equivalent potential temperature (ue) can pool at the surface. Some similarities to the propagation of deep convection are also noted.

Two methods for estimating limits to large-scale wind power generation

Significance Wind turbines generate electricity by removing kinetic energy from the atmosphere. We show that the limited replenishment of kinetic energy from aloft limits wind power generation rates at scales sufficiently large that horizontal fluxes of kinetic energy can be ignored. We evaluate these factors with regional atmospheric model simulations and find that generation limits can be estimated from the ‟preturbine” climatology by comparatively simple means, working best when the atmosphere between the surface and hub height is naturally well-mixed during the day. Our results show that the reduction of wind speeds and limited downward fluxes determine the limits in large-scale wind power generation to less than 1 W⋅m−2. Wind turbines remove kinetic energy from the atmospheric flow, which reduces wind speeds and limits generation rates of large wind farms. These interactions can be approximated using a vertical kinetic energy (VKE) flux method, which predicts that the maximum power generation potential is 26% of the instantaneous downward transport of kinetic energy using the preturbine climatology. We compare the energy flux method to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional atmospheric model equipped with a wind turbine parameterization over a 105 km2 region in the central United States. The WRF simulations yield a maximum generation of 1.1 We⋅m−2, whereas the VKE method predicts the time series while underestimating the maximum generation rate by about 50%. Because VKE derives the generation limit from the preturbine climatology, potential changes in the vertical kinetic energy flux from the free atmosphere are not considered. Such changes are important at night when WRF estimates are about twice the VKE value because wind turbines interact with the decoupled nocturnal low-level jet in this region. Daytime estimates agree better to 20% because the wind turbines induce comparatively small changes to the downward kinetic energy flux. This combination of downward transport limits and wind speed reductions explains why large-scale wind power generation in windy regions is limited to about 1 We⋅m−2, with VKE capturing this combination in a comparatively simple way.

Layer inflow into precipitating convection over the western tropical Pacific

SUMMARY A conceptual model of tropical convection frequently used in convective parametrization schemes is that of a parcel process in which boundary-layer air, characterized by high equivalent potential temperature, ascends to great heights in convective updraughts, while air above the planetary boundary layer with lower equivalent potential temperature mixes into convective downdraughts and sinks. However, airborne Doppler-radar data show that organized deep convective systems over the western tropical Pacie c warm pool are often characterized by layers of ascending ine ow »0.5‐4 km in depth. These ine ow layers do not consist merely of boundary-layer air. In this study a high-resolution numerical cloud model is employed to investigate these ine ow layers. Input data are from the Tropical Ocean‐Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). Two time periods are selected in December 1992, which represent the onset and peak of a strong westerly phase of the intraseasonal oscillation. Model simulations for 14 December, representative of westerly onset conditions and the beginning of a convectively active period, and 23 December, representative of strong low-level westerlies and extremely widespread convection, are conducted. To bridge the coarse resolution of the global-model analysis e elds and the e ne resolution of the cloud model, hourly output from a mesoscale model is used to supply initial and lateral boundary conditions for the cloud model. Control simulations of 14 and 23 December reveal distinct convective organizations and, specie cally, ine ow characteristics for the two systems embedded in different large-scale environmental conditions. In the case of 23 December, convection simulated under conditions of the strong westerly wind and near-saturated low-mid troposphere exhibits deep ine ow layers. Trajectories computed from the simulation of 23 December under these conditions show a strong layer-lifting ine ow signal. In contrast, the control simulation of 14 December shows a parcel-like ine ow withonly the air inthe lower part of the ine ow actually rising in the deep convective updraughts. One of the main differences between the two simulations is the lack of a deep environmental moist layer in the 14 December case. The control simulation did not capture well the extent of precipitating mesoscale stratiform clouds that developed from earlier convection in the vicinity of the deep convective cells as indicated in the COAREobservations. Previous studies have shown that spatially extensive convection is correlated with enhanced mid-level humidity. To isolate the effect of the mid-level moist layer on the characteristics of ine ow of convective systems, a numerical experiment based on the control simulation of 14 December was conducted. The relative humidity of environment air in the low-mid troposphere (1.7‐6 km layer) was increased to 95%. Trajectory statistics calculated for this sensitivity experiment show increased layer lifting, with a signie cant amount of air from the upper part of the ine ow layer rising in the updraught along with air from just above the surface. Moistening the ine ow layer in this sensitivity experiment allows it to saturate more quickly when it encounters the mesoscale cold pool. Once saturated, the relevant static stability is the moist rather than dry static stability, and the whole layer more easily rises over the cold pool. Moistening the ine ow layer also modie es the nature of the simulated cold pool itself, which seems to promote layer lifting in the simulation. Possible mechanisms for moistening the mid-levels are briee y discussed.

Effects of Sea-Salt Aerosols on Precipitation in Simulations of Shallow Cumulus

A suite of large-eddy simulations with size-resolving microphysical processes was performed in order to assesseffectsofsea-saltaerosolsonprecipitationprocessintradecumulus.Simulationsbasedonobservations from the Rain in Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field campaign explored the effects of adding sea-salt nuclei in different size ranges by following the evolution of 369 cloud cells over the 24-h simulation period. The addition of large (small) sea-salt nuclei tends to accelerate (suppress) precipitation formation; however, in marine environments the sea-salt spectra always include a combination of both small (film) and large (jet) nuclei. When realistic sea-salt spectra are specified as a function of surface wind, the effect of the larger nuclei to enhance the precipitation predominates, and accumulated precipitation increases with wind speed. This effect, however, is strongly influenced by the choice of background CCN spectrum. Adding the same sea-salt specification to an environment with a higher background aerosol load results in a decrease in accumulated precipitation with increasing surface wind speed. Results also suggest that the slope of the relationship between vertical velocity W and the concentration of embryonic precipitation particles at cloud base Nr may indicate the role of sea-salt nuclei. A negative slope (NrdecreasingwithincreasingW)pointstothepredominanceofsmallsea-saltnuclei,inwhichlargerupdrafts activate a greater number of smaller cloud drops with smaller coalescence efficiencies, resulting in fewer embryonic rain drops. A positive slope, on the other hand, indicates the presence of large sea-salt nuclei, which are the source of embryonic rain drops.

Prospects of the WSR-88D Radar for Cloud Studies

AbstractSounding of nonprecipitating clouds with the 10-cm wavelength Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) is discussed. Readily available enhancements to signal processing and volume coverage patterns of the WSR-88D allow observations of a variety of clouds with reflectivities as low as −25 dBZ (at a range of 10 km). The high sensitivity of the WSR-88D, its wide velocity and unambiguous range intervals, and the absence of attenuation allow accurate measurements of the reflectivity factor, Doppler velocity, and spectrum width fields in clouds to ranges of about 50 km. Fields of polarimetric variables in clouds, observed with a research polarimetric WSR-88D, demonstrate an abundance of information and help to resolve Bragg and particulate scatter. The scanning, Doppler, and polarimetric capabilities of the WSR-88D allow real-time, three-dimensional mapping of cloud processes, such as transformations of hydrometeors between liquid and ice phases. The presence of ice particles is revealed by hig...

Large-Eddy Observation of Post-Cold-Frontal Continental Stratocumulus

Previous large-eddy simulations (LES) of stratocumulus-topped boundary layers have been exclusively set in marine environments. Boundary layer stratocumulus clouds are also prevalent over the continent but have not been simulated previously. A suite of LES runs was performed for a case of continental post-cold-frontal stratocumulus observed by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF), located in northern Oklahoma. Comparison with fixed, ground-based sensors necessitated an Eulerian approach in which it was necessary to supply to the model estimates of synoptic-scale advection and vertical motion, particularly given the quickly evolving, baroclinic nature of the synoptic environment. Initial analyses from the Rapid Update Cycle model supplied estimates for these forcing terms. Turbulent statistics calculated from the LES results are consistent with large-eddy observations obtained from millimeter-wave cloud radar. The magnitude of turbulence is weaker than in typical marine stratocumulus, a result attributed to highly decoupled cloud and subcloud circulations associated with a deep layer of negative buoyancy flux arising from the entrainment of warm, free-tropospheric air. Model results are highly sensitive to variations in advection of temperature and moisture and much less sensitive to changes in synoptic-scale vertical velocity and surface fluxes. For this case, moisture and temperature advection, rather than entrainment, tend to be the governing factors in the analyzed cloud system maintenance and decay. Typical boundary layer entrainment scalings applied to this case do not perform very well, a result attributed to the highly decoupled nature of the circulation. Shear production is an important part of the turbulent kinetic energy budget. The dominance of advection provides an optimistic outlook for mesoscale, numerical weather prediction, and climate models because these classes of models represent these grid-scale processes better than they do subgrid-scale processes such as entrainment.