On the onset of entrainment instability over the ocean

The marine atmospheric boundary layer is characterized by cool temperatures and high humidity. Clouds are observed over most of the oceans. It is generally accepted that these overcast cloud decks break up into scattered fragments due to cloud-top entrainment instability. That is, if the air above the boundary layer is sufficiently cool and dry relative to cloud top, the buoyancy flux will be directed upwards and entrainment can occur freely.A boundary-layer model is used to test the sensitivity of the model atmosphere to the various processes which promote the onset of cloud-top entrainment instability. It is found that the transition from a solid cloud deck to scattered cumulus clouds depends on a rate process. The cloud cover is sensitive to mesoscale variations in sea surface temperature only if the cloud-top inversion is sufficiently weak.     

Current problems in the stratocumulus-topped atmospheric boundary layer

Extended sheets of stratocumulus (Sc) in the upper part of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) often occur under appropriate meteorological conditions. These cloud decks are important both in climate studies and in weather forecasting. We review the current knowledge of the turbulent structure of the ABL capped by a cloud deck, in the light of recent observations and model studies. The most important physical processes determining this structure are longwave radiative cooling at cloud top, shortwave radiative wanning by absorption in the cloud, surface buoyancy flux, and wind shear in the ABL. As a result, turbulence can cause entrainment against the buoyancy jump at cloud top. In cases where only longwave radiative fluxes and surface buoyancy fluxes are important, the turbulent structure is relatively well understood. When shortwave radiative fluxes and/or wind shear are also important, the resulting turbulent structure may change considerably. A decoupling of the cloud from the sub-cloud layer or of the top of the cloud from the rest of the ABL is then regularly observed. In no cases are the details of the entrainment at cloud top understood well enough to derive a relatively simple formulation that is consistent with observations. Cloud-top entrainment instability may lead to the break-up of a cloud deck (but also to cloud deepening). The role of mesoscale circulations in determining fractional cloudiness is not yet well understood.     

On the modelling of mixed layers and entrainment in cumulus cloud

A boundary-layer model, which incorporates an eddy diffusivity for turbulent transports, is presented. It is shown that this model can predict the appropriate behaviour for mixed layers produced by surface shear, free convection and mechanical mixing. The model is used to consider the development of cumulus clouds, which are shown generally to be convectively unstable at cloud top. Thus the entrainment of dry air leads to a very low cloud-water content in cumulus cloud.     

A Mixed-Layer Model Of The Well-Mixed Stratocumulus-Topped Boundary Layer

Recently a range of sophisticated large-eddy simulations of thecloud-topped boundary layer have been intercompared and furthercompared with observations and single column models. Here we comparethese results with perhaps the simplest model of the cloud-toppedboundary layer, namely a mixed-layer model. Results from the model aredescribed with two aims in mind. Firstly, the good results act as areminder of the success of simple models, and, secondly, we suggestthat a simple mixed-layer model could be used as a baseline for futuremodel intercomparisons.The mixed-layer model is based on two assumptions that follow previousstudies. Firstly, the liquid-water potential temperature and the total waterspecific humidity are assumed to be constant with height in the boundarylayer. Secondly, turbulence entrains air across the inversion into the boundarylayer at a rate that is assumed to be proportional to the jump in radiative flux at the cloud top and inversely proportional to the jump in buoyancy at the inversion. The constant of proportionality is called the entrainment efficiency.Results from the model for the entrainment rate and height evolutionof the boundary layer are compared with the observations and modelsconsidered in a EUCREM intercomparison study. Thepresent mixed-layer model accurately predicts the observed heightevolution of the boundary layer, but over-estimates the entrainmentrate to a similar degree as the large-eddy simulations. We show that,if the subsidence rate is reduced to the value given by observationsrather than the value used in the EUCREM intercomparison study,then the model agrees well with observed value of the entrainment rateif the entrainment efficiency is taken to be 0.6. With this value, themodel also agrees well with a further case study byBechtold et al. An entrainment efficiency of 0.6 is a little higherthan suggested by large eddy simulations, but such simulations do notcurrently resolve the entrainment events explicitly. Hence this pointdeserves further study.     

基于数据窗口标准差的边界层高度反演方法——以上海市为例

大气边界层具备一个重要特性,即在边界层顶部,气溶胶浓度在垂直分布上存在显著突变.利用该特性,采用主动遥感装置经过窗口平滑去除噪点后数据,提出基于梯度法改进的大气边界层高度反演方法——窗口标准偏差法.基于激光云高仪后向散射廓线数据,利用该方法反演边界层高度,在边界层高度下大气气溶胶混合均匀时,反演结果较为理想.在此基础上...     

A treatment for the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition in GCMs

Numerical models of climate have great difficulties with the simulation of marine low clouds in the subtropical Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It has been especially difficult to reproduce the observed geographical distributions of the different cloud regimes in those regions. The present study discusses mechanisms proposed in previous works for changing one regime into another. One criterion is based on the theory of stratocumulus destruction through cloud top entrainment instability due to buoyancy reversal—situations in which the mixture of two air parcels becomes denser than either of the original parcels due to evaporation of cloud water. Another criterion is based on the existence of decoupling in the boundary layer. When decoupled, the stratocumulus regime changes to another in which these clouds can still exist together with cumulus. In a LES study, the authors have suggested that a combination of those two criteria can be used to diagnose whether, at a location, the cloud regime corresponds to a well-mixed stratocumulus regime, a shallow cumulus regime, or to a transitional regime where the boundary layer is decoupled. The concept is tested in the framework of an atmospheric general circulation model (GCM). It is found that several outstanding features of disagreement between simulation and observation can be interpreted as misrepresentations of the cloud regimes by the GCM. A novel criterion for switching among regimes is proposed to alleviate the effects of these misrepresentations.     

Numerical simulation of vortex roll development during a cold air outbreak

Cold air outbreaks can be identified by the formation of cloud streets downwind from a land-sea boundary, as can be seen in numerous satellite pictures. These cloud streets are caused by horizontal roll vortices which in turn are due to dynamic and convective instability of the planetary boundary layer over sea. The development of these roll vortices is simulated with a numerical model and compared to observations obtained over the Bering Sea. Vertical heat transport is found to be due to turbulent diffusion in the initial stage of a cold air outbreak before organized roll vortices contribute to the heat flux in the higher levels of the boundary layer. The influence of a capping inversion on the dynamic and convective instability is also elucidated.     

Parameterization of Entrainment in a Sheared Convective Boundary Layer Using a First-order Jump Model

Basic entrainment equations applicable to the sheared convective boundary layer (CBL) are derived by assuming an inversion layer with a finite depth, i.e., the first-order jump model. Large-eddy simulation data are used to determine the constants involved in the parameterizations of the entrainment equations. Based on the integrated turbulent kinetic energy budget from surface to the top of the CBL, the resulting entrainment heat flux normalized by surface heat flux is a function of the inversion layer depth, the velocity jumps across the inversion layer, the friction velocity, and the convection velocity. The developed first-order jump model is tested against large-eddy simulation data of two independent cases with different inversion strengths. In both cases, the model reproduces quite reasonably the evolution of the CBL height, virtual potential temperature, and velocity components in the mixed layer and in the inversion layer.The part of this work was done when the first author visited at NCAR.     

对流云街激发的重力波和波动阻力

大气边界层中的对流活动,可以在其上部稳定层中激发出重力波,并引起垂直动量输送,影响到对流层和平流层中的动量平衡过程.从二层模式中大气波动方程的线性解出发,得出了对流云街激发的重力波波阻解析表达式,并讨论了大气条件对波阻的影响.这些分析可有助于大气环流模式(GCM)中此类重力波波阻参数化表达式的建立和改进.     

A GCSS Boundary-Layer Cloud Model Intercomparison Study Of The First Astex Lagrangian Experiment

Three single-column models (all with an explicit liquid water budget and compara-tively high vertical resolution) and three two-dimensional eddy-resolving models (including one with bin-resolved microphysics) are compared with observations from the first ASTEX Lagrangian experiment. This intercomparison was a part of the second GCSS boundary-layer cloud modelling workshop in August 1995.In the air column tracked during the first ASTEX Lagrangian experiment, a shallow subtropical drizzling stratocumulus-capped marine boundary layer deepens after two days into a cumulus capped boundary layer with patchy stratocumulus. The models are forced with time varying boundary conditions at the sea-surface and the capping inversion to simulate the changing environment of the air column.The models all predict the observed deepening and decoupling of the boundary layer quite well, with cumulus cloud evolution and thinning of the overlying stratocumulus. Thus these models all appear capable of predicting transitions between cloud and boundary-layer types with some skill. The models also produce realistic drizzle rates, but there are substantial quantitative differences in the cloud cover and liquid water path between models. The differences between the eddy-resolving model results are nearly as large as between the single column model results. The eddy resolving models give a more detailed picture of the boundary-layer evolution than the single-column models, but are still sensitive to the choice of microphysical and radiative parameterizations, sub-grid-scale turbulence models, and probably model resolution and dimensionality. One important example of the differences seen in these parameterizations is the absorption of solar radiation in a specified cloud layer, which varied by a factor of four between the model radiation parameterizations.     

Stratiform Cloud—Inversion Characterization During the Arctic Melt Season

Data collected during July and August from the Arctic Ocean Experiment 2001 illustrated a common occurrence of specific-humidity (q) inversions, where moisture increases with height, coinciding with temperature inversions in the central Arctic boundary layer and lower troposphere. Low-level stratiform clouds and their relationship to temperature inversions are examined using radiosonde data and data from a suite of remote sensing instrumentation. Two low-level cloud regimes are identified: the canonical case of stratiform clouds, where the cloud tops are capped by the temperature inversion base (CCI—Clouds Capped by Inversion) and clouds where the cloud tops were found well inside the inversion (CII—Clouds Inside Inversion). The latter case was found to occur more than twice as frequently than the former. The characteristic of the temperature inversion is shown to have an influence on the cloud regime that was supported. Statistical analyses of the cloud regimes using remote sensing instruments suggest that CCI cases tend to be dominated by single-phase liquid cloud droplets; radiative cooling at the cloud top limits the vertical extent of such clouds to the inversion base height. The CII cases, on the other hand, display characteristics that can be divided into two situations—(1) clouds that only slightly penetrate the temperature inversion and exhibit a microphysical signal similar to CCI cases, or (2) clouds that extend higher into the inversion and show evidence of a mixed-phase cloud structure. An important interplay between the mixed-phase structure and an increased potential for turbulent mixing across the inversion base appears to support the lifetime of CII cases existing within the inversion layer.     

A similarity model for maximum ground-level concentration in a height-invariant,stably stratified atmospheric boundary layer

A model is presented for determining the location and magnitude of the maximum ground-level concentration arising from an elevated buoyant source in a very stable atmospheric boundary layer. The development combines the turbulent structure of such a boundary layer, Lagrangian similarity of the diffusion process, and similarity solutions of the conservation equations of the buoyant plume with mass conservation to produce a simple, experimentally verifiable formulation. Functional analogy with previous results for the constant flux layer and a deep convectively unstable layer suggest a heuristic model by which to visualize the process.     

沙澧河流域两场大暴雨过程的对比分析

利用常规观测资料、自动站资料和NCEP1°×1°再分析资料对2007年7月5日和14日沙澧河流域两场大暴雨过程进行了诊断对比分析.结果表明:不同影响系统下产生的大暴雨过程其动力机制有所差异.垂直螺旋度计算结果显示:两次过程700hPa等压面上正垂直螺旋度中心的移向和强度变化与降水落区及趋势变化有很好的对应关系,暴雨区出现在正垂直螺旋度中心移动的前方,对流域大暴雨的落区有一定的指示意义.5日呈现中低层正、高层负的垂直螺旋度配置,动力条件更有利于大暴雨的发生.湿位涡演变分析发现,5日中低层既存在对流不稳定,又存在对称不稳定,有利于垂直对流和倾斜对流发生,造成流域大暴雨.14日中低层大气处于对流稳定状态,但边界层和中层存在对流不稳定,同时中层还存在较强的对称不稳定,垂直涡度得到较大增长,导致上升运动的加强和水汽的垂直输送,有利于降水增幅.     

An evaluation of neutral and convective planetary boundary-layer parameterizations relative to large eddy simulations

This paper compares a number of one-dimensional closure models for the planetary boundary layer (PBL) that are currently in use in large-scale atmospheric models. Using the results of a large-eddy simulation (LES) model as the standard of comparison, the PBL models are evaluated over a range of stratifications from free convective to neutral and a range of surface shear stresses. Capping inversion strengths for the convective cases range from weakly to strongly capped. Six prototypical PBL models are evaluated in this study, which focuses on the accuracy of the boundary-layer fluxes of momentum, heat, and two passive scalars. One scalar mimics humidity and the other is a top-down scalar entrained into the boundary layer from above. A set of measures based on the layer-averaged differences of these fluxes from the LES solutions is developed. In addition to the methodological framework and suite of LES solutions, the main result of the evaluation is the recognition that all of the examined PBL parameterizations have difficulty reproducing the entrainment at the top of the PBL, as given by the LES, in most parameter regimes. Some of the PBL models are relatively accurate in their entrainment flux in a subset of parameter regimes. The sensitivity of the PBL models to vertical resolution is explored, and substantive differences are observed in the performance of the PBL models, relative to LES, at low resolution typical of large scale atmospheric models.     

Entrainment effects in the well-mixed atmospheric boundary layer

We discuss the structure and evolution of a cloud-free atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) during daytime over land, starting from a shallow ABL at sunrise and developing into a deep ABL with strong convection in the afternoon. The structure of the turbulence in the lower half of a convective ABL capped by an inversion is reasonably well understood. Less is known about the details of the turbulence in higher regions affected by entrainment, because of the difficulty in taking turbulence measurements there. For the evolution in time of the height of the ABL and its mean potential temperature mixed-layer models have been developed that give satisfactory agreement with observations. It has been shown that for many practical applications accurate knowledge of forcing functions and boundary conditions is more important than a refinement of the entrainment hypothesis. Observations show that the assumption of well-mixedness of first-order moments of conservative variables is not valid for all quantities. A simple similarity relation for the inclusion of the effect of entrainment on the shape of the vertical profiles is given.     

A bulk mass flux convection scheme for climate model: description and moisture sensitivity

A convection scheme for climate model is developed based on Tiedtke’s (Mon Weather Rev 117:1779–1800, 1989) bulk mass flux framework and is evaluated with observational data and cloud resolving model simulation data. The main differences between the present parameterization and Tiedtke’s parameterization are the convection trigger, fractional entrainment and detrainment rate formulations, and closure method. Convection is triggered if the vertical velocity of a rising parcel is positive at the level at which the parcel is saturated. The fractional entrainment rate depends on the vertical velocity and buoyancy of the parcel as well as the environmental relative humidity. For the fractional detrainment rate, a linear decrease in the updraft mass flux above maximum buoyancy level is assumed. In the closure method, the cloud base mass flux is determined by considering both cloud layer instability and subcloud layer turbulent kinetic energy as controlling factors in the strength of the convection. The convection scheme is examined in a single column framework as well as using a general circulation model. The present bulk mass flux (BMF) scheme is compared with a simplified Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert (RAS) scheme. In contrast to the RAS, which specifies the cloud top, cloud top height in BMF depends on environmental properties, by considering the conditions of both the parcel and its environment in a fractional entrainment and detrainment rate formulations. As a result, BMF shows improved sensitivity in depth and strength of convection on environmental humidity compared to RAS, by strengthening coupling between cloud and environment. When the mid to lower troposphere is dry, the cloud resolving model and BMF produce cloud top around the dry layer and moisten the layer. In the framework of general circulation model, enhanced coupling between convection and environmental humidity in BMF results in improved representation of eastward propagating intraseasonal variability in the tropics—the Madden-Julian oscillation.     

Radiative and Evaporative Cooling in the Entrainment Zone of Stratocumulus – the Role of Longwave Radiative Cooling Above Cloud Top

A mixing fraction determines the relative amount of above-cloud-top air that has been mixed into a cloudy air parcel. A method, based on the use of mixing fractions, to calculate the cooling effects due to mixing, longwave radiation and phase changes at cloud top is derived and discussed. We compute cooling effects for the whole range of mixing fraction for two observed cases of the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer. In both cases the total radiative cooling effect is found to be the most dominant contributor to the negative buoyancy excess found at cloud top. The largest radiative cooling rates are found for clear-air parcels immediately adjacent to cloud top rather than inside the cloud. With the help of a simple longwave radiation model, we show this to be caused by clear-air radiative cooling due to the temperature inversion at cloud top. Further we show that flux profiles in the entrainment zone can be computed from data obtained from a horizontal level run that is half the time in cloud and half the time out of cloud.     

Stratocumulus-capped mixed layers derived from a three-dimensional model

Results of a three-dimensional numerical model are analysed in a study of turbulence and entrainment within mixed layers containing stratocumulus with or without parameterized cloud-top radiative cooling. The model eliminates most of the assumptions invoked in theories of cloud-capped mixed layers, but suffers disadvantages which include poor resolution and large truncation errors in and above the capping inversion.For relatively thick mixed layers with relatively thick capping inversions, the cloud-top radiative cooling is found to be lodged mostly within the capping inversion when the cooling is confined locally to the upper 50 m or less of the cloud. It does not then contribute substantially towards increased buoyancy flux and turbulence within the well mixed layer just below.The optimal means of correlating the entrainment rate, or mixed-layer growth rate, for mixed layers of variable amounts of stratocumulus is found to be through functional dependence upon an overall jump Richardson number, utilizing as scaling velocity the standard deviation of vertical velocity existing at the top of the mixed layer (near the center of the capping inversion). This velocity is found to be a fraction of the generalized convective velocity for the mixed layer as a whole which is greater for cloud-capped mixed layers than for clear mixed layers.     

The effect of grid resolution upon the numerical modelling of the convective boundary layer

A study has been made of the effects of varying the (uniform) grid resolution of a one-dimensional finite-difference numerical model of the dry convective boundary layer. The resolution of the inversion at the top of the boundary layer, and representation of the entrainment at the inversion, are found to influence the development of the momentum and buoyancy flux profiles. The modelled change in potential energy in a developing mixed layer is used to define a mixed layer scale, h _m, which is found to vary systematically with resolution. The discretization errors (which can be large for resolutions poorer than a few tens of metres, particularly in the early stages of mixed-layer development) are quantified.