Cumulus cloud population and its parameterization

The latent heat released by cumulus clouds is very important to the energies of many large-scale tropical disturbances. The number of cumulus clouds involved in these disturbances is usually very large. The collective effects of cumulus clouds must therefore be incorporated into a large-scale model in a parameterized fashion. Present parameterization schemes are briefly reviewed. Recent advances in our understanding of the control and feedback processes between cumulus clouds and the large-scale circulations are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the implications of the results of recent diagnostic studies on the future development of the theory of cumulus parameterization.     

Mechanisms and Model Diversity of Trade-Wind Shallow Cumulus Cloud Feedbacks: A Review

Shallow cumulus clouds in the trade-wind regions are at the heart of the long standing uncertainty in climate sensitivity estimates. In current climate models, cloud feedbacks are strongly influenced by cloud-base cloud amount in the trades. Therefore, understanding the key factors controlling cloudiness near cloud-base in shallow convective regimes has emerged as an important topic of investigation. We review physical understanding of these key controlling factors and discuss the value of the different approaches that have been developed so far, based on global and high-resolution model experimentations and process-oriented analyses across a range of models and for observations. The trade-wind cloud feedbacks appear to depend on two important aspects: (1) how cloudiness near cloud-base is controlled by the local interplay between turbulent, convective and radiative processes; (2) how these processes interact with their surrounding environment and are influenced by mesoscale organization. Our synthesis of studies that have explored these aspects suggests that the large diversity of model responses is related to fundamental differences in how the processes controlling trade cumulus operate in models, notably, whether they are parameterized or resolved. In models with parameterized convection, cloudiness near cloud-base is very sensitive to the vigor of convective mixing in response to changes in environmental conditions. This is in contrast with results from high-resolution models, which suggest that cloudiness near cloud-base is nearly invariant with warming and independent of large-scale environmental changes. Uncertainties are difficult to narrow using current observations, as the trade cumulus variability and its relation to large-scale environmental factors strongly depend on the time and/or spatial scales at which the mechanisms are evaluated. New opportunities for testing physical understanding of the factors controlling shallow cumulus cloud responses using observations and high-resolution modeling on large domains are discussed.     

A simple theory for the vertical structure of the tropical atmosphere

It is suggested that the gross mean vertical structure of the undisturbed tropical atmosphere may be understood in terms of convective boundary layers driven in different ways and on different time scales by the evaporation of water from the sea surface. The mixed layer on a short time scale is driven partly by the buoyancy produced by the light weight of the water vapor; the trade cumulus layer on an intermediate time scale by the buoyancy (but not heating) produced by the condensation of the water vapor in shallow trade cumulus clouds; and the troposphere itself on a long time scale by the buoyancyand heating produced by the condensation of the water vapor in the deep cumulonimbus clouds.May 1985This paper was issued as a Harvard University report in 1974. For this version only Section 5 has been rewritten. There has been sufficient interest in this work over the years to warrant making it more widely available through the open literature.Contribution No. 783 from NOAA/Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory     

Identification of eruption clouds with the landsat satellites

Landsat satellite images were selected for the analysis of a tephraladen eruption cloud and a volcanic fume cloud. A 35 km long eruption plume from Sakurazima Volcano, Kyushu, Japan was viewed by the satellite on December 2, 1972. Multispectral Scanner (MSS) band 4 was density sliced into eight levels. Grey levels over the tephra-laden cumulus, which had formed at the terminus of the eruption plume, were distinct from most of the nearby cumulus clouds. MSS band 4 is the key band for identifying eruption clouds in overcast volcanic regions. A lume cloud from Stromboli, Italy was studied in the same manner. It is easily identified over land areas and for 8 km over water in areas of clear sky, but cannot be distinguished from banks of cumulus clouds.     

Low-Cloud Feedbacks from Cloud-Controlling Factors: A Review

The response to warming of tropical low-level clouds including both marine stratocumulus and trade cumulus is a major source of uncertainty in projections of future climate. Climate model simulations of the response vary widely, reflecting the difficulty the models have in simulating these clouds. These inadequacies have led to alternative approaches to predict low-cloud feedbacks. Here, we review an observational approach that relies on the assumption that observed relationships between low clouds and the “cloud-controlling factors” of the large-scale environment are invariant across time-scales. With this assumption, and given predictions of how the cloud-controlling factors change with climate warming, one can predict low-cloud feedbacks without using any model simulation of low clouds. We discuss both fundamental and implementation issues with this approach and suggest steps that could reduce uncertainty in the predicted low-cloud feedback. Recent studies using this approach predict that the tropical low-cloud feedback is positive mainly due to the observation that reflection of solar radiation by low clouds decreases as temperature increases, holding all other cloud-controlling factors fixed. The positive feedback from temperature is partially offset by a negative feedback from the tendency for the inversion strength to increase in a warming world, with other cloud-controlling factors playing a smaller role. A consensus estimate from these studies for the contribution of tropical low clouds to the global mean cloud feedback is 0.25 ± 0.18 W m^?2 K^?1 (90% confidence interval), suggesting it is very unlikely that tropical low clouds reduce total global cloud feedback. Because the prediction of positive tropical low-cloud feedback with this approach is consistent with independent evidence from low-cloud feedback studies using high-resolution cloud models, progress is being made in reducing this key climate uncertainty.     

Verification of numerical model simulations of cumulus-environmental interaction in the high plains

Numerical model predictions of cumulus development over the high plains of Colorado are verified using aircraft and radar observations. Nine case examples are studied in detail, comparing natural and model predicted development of cumulus clouds. Detailed analyses and conclusions regarding model application and interpretation are presented. They show the critical need to understand the local mesoscale dynamics and the need to initialize the model with representative soundings.     

气溶胶对雷暴云电过程影响的数值模拟研究

本文在已有的三维雷暴云起、放电模式中加入了一种经典的气溶胶活化参数化方案,结合一次长春雷暴个例,进行了雷暴云起放电数值模拟试验.研究显示气溶胶浓度改变对雷暴云微物理、起电及放电过程都有重要影响.结果表明:(1)污染型雷暴云中气溶胶浓度增加时,云滴数目增多,上升风速加强;云中冰晶与霰粒子数浓度增加但尺度减小;(2)相对于清洁型雷暴云,污染型雷暴云非感应起电过程弱,感应起电过程强,起电持续时间长;(3)污染型雷暴云中首次放电时间延迟,闪电持续发生的时间长,总闪电频次增加,正地闪频次增加明显.     

Diagnosis of dominant forcing factors for large-scale vertical velocities during active and break phases of the monsoon

An attempt to diagnose the dominant forcings which drive the large-scale vertical velocities over the monsoon region has been made by computing the forcings like diabatic heating fields,etc. and the large-scale vertical velocities driven by these forcings for the contrasting periods of active and break monsoon situations; in order to understand the rainfall variability associated with them. Computation of diabatic heating fields show us that among different components of diabatic heating it is the convective heating that dominates at mid-tropospheric levels during an active monsoon period; whereas it is the sensible heating at the surface that is important during a break period. From vertical velocity calculations we infer that the prime differences in the large-scale vertical velocities seen throughout the depth of the atmosphere are due to the differences in the orders of convective heating; the maximum rate of latent heating being more than 10 degrees Kelvin per day during an active monsoon period; whereas during a break monsoon period it is of the order of 2 degrees Kelvin per day at mid-tropospheric levels. At low levels of the atmosphere, computations show that there is large-scale ascent occurring over a large spatial region, driven only by the dynamic forcing associated with vorticity and temperature advection during an active monsoon period. However, during a break monsoon period such large-scale spatial organization in rising motion is not seen. It is speculated that these differences in the low-level large-scale ascent might be causing differences in convective heating because the weaker the low level ascent, the lesser the convective instability which produces deep cumulus clouds and hence lesser the associated latent heat release. The forcings due to other components of diabatic heating, namely, the sensible heating and long wave radiative cooling do not influence the large-scale vertical velocities significantly.     

Global vorticity budget over the tropics and subtropics at 200-mb during northern hemisphere summer

The large-scale terms in the vorticity equation are evaluated usingKrishnamurti's (1971a, b) summer mean winds at 200 mb for a global belt from 25°S to 45°N. The production of vorticity by the divergent wind field is found to be imbalanced over all of the tropical and subtropical belt. As a result there is a requirement for a sub-grid scale (space or time) mechanism which removes negative vorticity from the regions of strong divergence (Tibetan and Mexican highlands) and removes positive vorticity from the regions of strong convergence (mid-oceanic troughs) at 200 mb during northern summer at a rate of approximately 4×10^–10 sec^–2. As suggested byHolton andColton (1972), in regions of strong and persistent convection, such as the Tibetan Plateau, deep cumulus clouds can account for this transport. However, the mechanism for removing positive vorticity in the vicinity of the upper tropospheric mid-oceanic troughs is still an intriguing and open question.On leave-of-absence at the National Science Foundation, Climate Dynamics Research Section.     

On cumulus-scale transport of horizontal momentum in monsoon depression over India

A diagnostie method of cumulus parameterization is suggested in which vertical transport of horizontal momentum by cumulus-scale is derived by making use of large-scale vorticity as well as divergence budget equations. Data for composite monsoon depression over India available from our earlier studies used to test the method. As a first approximation, the results are obtained using only the vorticity budget equation.The results show that in the southwest sector of the monsoon depression, which is characterized by maximum cloudiness and precipitation, there is an excess of cyclonic vorticity in the lower troposphere and anticyclonic vorticity in the upper troposphere associated with the large-scale motion. The distribution of eddy vertical transport of horizontal momentum is such that anticyclonic vorticity is generated in the lower troposphere and cyclonic vorticity aloft. Cumulus-scale eddies thus work against the large-scale system and tend to off-set the large-scale imbalance in vorticity.     

The physics of precipitation in cumulus clouds

Summary Over the past several years, the University of Chicago has conducted a program of research into the physics and chemistry of cumulus cloud precipitation. From these measurements it has been possible to isolate the sublimation-coalescence mechanism (Bergeron process) from the condensation-coalescence mechanism and to estimate the relative role of each process in the formation of rain n cumulus clouds. It is found that size of cloud capable of raining is a strong function of geography, that the environment of the cloud is very important in determining the probability of rain and that liquid water content is one of the most important within-cloud parameters.An essential part of the research concerned cloud treatment. Definite, positive treatment effects were demonstrated for rain initiation through coalescence using water spray. No effects were detectable from dry ice seeding of subcooled clouds, although any such effects may have been obscured by sample size (27 cloud pairs).Text of paper presented before Physical Society and Royal Meteorological Society Joint Conference on Cloud Physics, London, England, Jan. 4–5, 1956. The research reported in this paper has been sponsored by the Geophysics Research. Directorate of the Air Force Cambridge Research Center, Air Research and Development Command under Contract Nos. AF 19 (604)-618 and AF 19 (604)-1388.     

EUREC<Superscript>4</Superscript>A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds,Convection and Circulation

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.     

The retrieval of cloud microphysical properties using satellite measurements and an in situ database

By combining AVHRR data from the NOAA satellites with information from a database of in situ measurements, large-scale maps can be generated of the microphysical parameters most immediately significant for the modelling of global circulation and climate. From the satellite data, the clouds can be classified into cumuliform, stratiform and cirrus classes and then into further sub-classes by cloud top temperature. At the same time a database of in situ measurements made by research aircraft is classified into the same sub-classes and a statistical analysis is used to derive relationships between the sub-classes and the cloud microphysical properties. These two analyses are then linked to give estimates of the microphysical properties of the satellite observed clouds. Examples are given of the application of this technique to derive maps of the probability of occurrence of precipitating clouds and of precipitating water content derived from a case study within the International Cirrus Experiment (ICE) held in 1989 over the North Sea.     

Characteristics of Cloud Drop Spectra at Different Levels and with Respect to Cloud Thickness

--Measurements on drop size spectra were made in cumulus clouds over Pune (inland) region on many days during the summer monsoon seasons. In this paper, the measurements in non-raining cumulus clouds made in the years 1984, 1985 and 1986 at different levels and for different cloud thickness have been studied. In general, the drop size spectra broadened with height and the concentration of drops with diameter > 50 wm (N_L), mean volume diameter (MVD), liquid water content (LWC) and dispersion increased with height while the concentration of drops with diameter < 20 wm (N_S) and the total concentration of drops (N_T) decreased with height. The average drop size distributions were unimodal at the lower levels while they were bimodal at the higher levels. High water contents were confined to drops in the size range 5-25 wm at both higher and lower levels. The average drop size spectra were broader and N_L, LWC, MVD and dispersion greater while N_T and N_S smaller for thicker clouds (range of vertical extent 1.1-2.1 km) as compared to those for thinner clouds (range of vertical extent 0.3-1.1 km). Water contents for the drops > 28 wm were higher while those for the drops > 28 wm lower in thicker clouds than in thinner clouds. The average drop size distributions were bimodal in the former case, while they were unimodal in the other case.     

中国东部层积云发展过程中云微物理特征的演变

基于2007—2010年的CloudSat卫星观测数据,以云层液态水路径为指标将层积云的发展过程划分为五个阶段,对比研究了中国东部降水与非降水层积云发展过程中云微物理特征和云微物理机制的演变,并分析了其海陆差异.研究表明:非降水层积云中,云滴增长主要通过凝结过程完成,但云滴的凝结增长有限,难以形成降水,在非降水层积云发展的旺盛阶段,云层中上部云滴发生较弱的碰并过程.降水层积云中云滴碰并增长活跃,当云层液态水路径小于500 g·m~(-2)时,云滴在从云顶下落至云底的过程中持续碰并,并在云底附近出现云水向雨水的转化;当降水层积云液态水路径超过500 g·m~(-2)时,云滴碰并增长主要发生在云层上部,在云层中部,云液态水含量、液态粒子数浓度和液态粒子有效半径达到最大,云水向雨水的转化最为活跃.层积云微物理特征的海陆差异主要是由海陆上空气溶胶浓度和云中上升气流强度不同导致的.在非降水层积云中下部,陆地丰富的气溶胶为云滴凝结增长提供了充足的云凝结核,因而云微物理量的量值在陆地上空更大,而在云层中上部,云滴凝结增长达到极限,海洋充足的水汽输送使云微物理量的量值在海洋上空更大.当降水层积云液态水路径大于500 g·m~(-2)时,陆地层积云中更强的上升气流使大量云滴在云层中上部累积滞留,云滴碰并增长活跃,云层中上部云微物理量的量值在陆地上空更大.     

Evaluation of Short-Range Forecasts from a Mesoscale Model Over the Indian Region During Monsoon 2006

This study examines the short-range forecast accuracy of the Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5) as applied to the July 2006 episode of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) and the model's sensitivity to the choice of different cumulus parameterization schemes (CPSs), namely Betts-Miller, Grell (GR) and Kain-Fritsch (KF). The results showed that MM5 day 1 (0–24 h prediction) and day 2 (24–48 h prediction) forecasts using all three CPSs overpredicted monsoon rainfall over the Indian landmass, with the larger overprediction seen in the day 2 forecasts. Among the CPSs, the rainfall distribution over the Indian landmass was better simulated in forecasts using the KF scheme. The KF scheme showed better skill in predicting the area of rainfall for most of the rainfall thresholds. The root mean square error (RMSE) in day 1 and day 2 rainfall forecasts using different CPSs showed that rainfall simulated using the KF scheme agreed better with the observed rainfall. As compared to other CPSs, simulation using the GR scheme showed larger RMSE in wind speed prediction at 850 and 200 hPa over the Indian landmass. MM5 24-h temperature forecasts at 850 hPa with all the CPSs showed a warm bias of the order of 1 K over the Indian landmass and the bias doubled in 48-h model forecasts. The mean error in temperature prediction at 850 hPa over the Indian region using the KF scheme was comparatively smaller for all the forecast intervals. The model with all the CPSs overpredicted humidity at 850 hPa. The improved prediction by MM5 with the KF scheme is well complemented by the smaller error shown by the KF scheme in vertical distribution of heat and mean moist static energy in the lower troposphere. In this study, the KF scheme which explicitly resolve the downdrafts in the cloud column tended to produce more realistic precipitation forecasts as compared to other schemes which did not explicitly incorporate downdraft effects. This is an important result especially given that the area covered by monsoon-precipitating systems is largely from stratiform-type clouds which are associated with strong downdrafts in the lower levels. This result is useful for improving the treatment of cumulus convection in numerical models over the ISM region.     

Variations in the Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes during the Appearance of Irregularities of Noctilucent Clouds

Variations in the amplitude of the ordinary wave from a received signal on a partial reflection radar at a short-wave range on the Kola Peninsula during the appearance of noctilucent clouds on August 12, 2016, are examined. Noctilucent clouds are registered by the all-sky camera located 100 km southward of the partial reflection radar. They extended over the entire celestial hemisphere observed by the all-sky camera; all of them moved in the southern direction, and the clouds had a tenuous structure and showed gravity waves with spatial periods of 15–100 km. During the presence of noctilucent clouds over the partial reflection radar, polar mesospheric summer echoes (PMSEs) were recorded at heights of 83–86 km. It was found that the presence of only noctilucent clouds in diagram of the antenna pattern of partial frequency radar is not sufficient for the appearance of PMSEs; noctilucent clouds must also have irregularities of several kilometers. The PMSE heights decreased with a velocity of 0.5 and 1.3 m/s. The issue of aerosols that cause the appearance of PMSEs and noctilucent clouds is discussed.     

A comparative study on the growth of cloud drops by condensation using an air parcel model with and without entrainment

During a study of the growth of cloud drops by condensation the evolution of cloud drop size spectra with height above cloud base was determined for maritime aerosols, and for continental aerosols containing aerosol particles of mixed composition. Air parcel models were used in which the parcel was either completely closed to mass and heat transfer (strictly adiabatic models), or open to heat transfer and to partial or complete mass transfer (entrainment models). It was found that adiabatic models and models which consider the entraining of air devoid of aerosol particles predict drop size distributions which are considerably narrower than those observed in non-precipitating cumulus clouds, and have only a single maximum. On the other hand, relative broad drop size distributions and distributions with a double maximum — as they are observed in atmospheric clouds — are predicted if the entrainment of both air and aerosol particles are considered in the condensation model. Our results support the findings ofWarner (1973) which were obtained for a purely maritime aerosol.     

Mid-Mountain Clouds at Whistler During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics

A comprehensive study of mid-mountain clouds and their impacts on the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics is presented. Mid-mountain clouds were frequently present on the Whistler alpine venue, as identified in an extensive archive of webcam images over a 45-day period from February 5 to March 21, 2010. These clouds posed serious forecast challenges and had significant impacts on some Olympic and Paralympic alpine skiing competitions. Under fair weather conditions, a diurnal upslope (anabatic) flow can work in concert with a diurnal temperature inversion aloft to produce a localized phenomenon known as “Harvey’s Cloud” at Whistler. Two detailed case studies in this paper suggest that mid-mountain clouds can also develop in the area as a result of a moist valley flow interacting with a downslope flow descending from the mountaintop. A southerly inflow through the Sea-to-Sky corridor can be channeled by the local topography into a westerly upslope flow toward Whistler Mountain, resulting in orographic clouds on the alpine venue. Under favorable circumstances, these clouds are trapped to the mid-mountain zone by the leeward subsidence of an elevated southerly flow. The presence of the downslope subsidence was manifested by a distinguished dry layer observed on the top of the mid-mountain clouds in both cases. It is the subsidence-induced adiabatic warming that imposes a strong buoyant suppression to trap the mid-mountain cloud. On the other hand, the subsidence-induced dry layer has the potential to trigger evaporative instability to periodically breakup the mid-mountain cloud.     

中尺度模式积云参数化方案的改进及其在暴雨模拟中的应用

本文针对中国暴雨发生发展天气特征,改进和发展了一种适合于描述东亚暴雨的中尺度积云参数化方案.首先基于近年来(1990—2010)江淮流域汛期降水合成分析的基础上,诊断出组织化对流降水环境的动力参数;其次利用该动力参数作为动力控制条件,改进了Kain-Fritsch Eta中尺度积云对流参数化方案;最后利用改进的中尺度积云参数化方案对梅雨期暴雨、华南前汛期暴雨过程进行了数值模拟,结果表明:改进后的中尺度积云参数化方案对上述两次暴雨过程的落区及强度的模拟,均有明显改进.