On mixing processes in cumulus clouds

An examination is made of the hypothesis that internal cloud properties are determined by the mixing of dry air from above the cloud top and cloud base air in such a way that the mixture is neutrally buoyant with respect to the clear air environment at each level. It is concluded that the resulting mixture is much drier than is actually observed. Comments are made about observed cloud properties which need to be taken into account in any model of the mixing process.     

Measurements of cloud droplet size distributions in seeded warm cumulus clouds

Summary Aircraft observations were made on cloud droplet size distribution in 19 cases of seeded warm cumulus clouds in three meteorologically different regions. An examination of the data suggested the following: (i) In all the 5 cases at Bombay (maritime), and in 6 out of the 7 cases at Poona (modified maritime) the values of median volume diameter, maximum cloud droplet size and liquid water content showed increase after seeding as compared to what they were before. The increases noticed in the median volume diameter ranged up to 48% at Bombay and 478% at Poona. The liquid water content and the maximum droplet size respectively increased upward of 56% and 25% at Bombay and 60% and 31% at Poona. (ii) In 4 out of the 7 cloud cases at Rihand (continental), the values of the parameters referred to above showed increase. The median volume diameter increased up to 372%. The liquid water content and the maximum droplet size increased upward of 160% and 66% respectively. (iii) In the cloud cases wherein the values of the parameters decreased after seeding, the decreases noticed ranged up to 94%. (iv) More unstable conditions prevailed on the days when the seeded clouds showed visible rain than on the days when they did not.     

On the interaction between cumulus clouds and the larger-scale environment

This article briefly reviews the published and unpublished work carried out by the author and his colleagues during the past few years on the interaction between cumulus clouds and the larger-scale environment. This work has been directed toward: (a) identifying favorable large-scale environments for generation of an organized meso disturbance and (b) investigating the feedback effect of a cumulus ensemble on the large-scale environment. Feedback includes the redistribution of heat and moisture by cumulus clouds in the large-scale atmosphere once a large number of different sized cumuli have developed. Both cumulus clouds over the continental United States and over the tropical oceans are considered in this article and some differences between them are discussed. A number of unsolved questions which the author feels are of importance are raised.     

Effects of precipitation physics algorithms on a simulated climate in a general circulation model

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of precipitation physics in a general circulation model (GCM) on a simulated climate. Experiments are performed under the single column model (SCM) framework to examine basic features and under the general circulation model framework to investigate the impact on seasonal simulation. The SCM simulation shows that convection processes in the model have a considerable influence on the change in vertical thermodynamic structure, resulting in a change in precipitation, whereas in the GCM framework stratiform precipitation physics play a distinct role in changing the atmospheric structure. The GCM experiments also show that the overall reduction of precipitation in simulations with prognostic stratiform precipitation physics is highly related to changes in cloudiness and corresponding changes in radiative flux, which in turn leads to the reduction of convective activities.     

The electrical conductivity of clouds

Summary A modified Gerdien cell was designed, evaluated, and built for measurement of the polar conductivities in clouds. This conductivity dropsonde was attached to a U.S. Weather Bureau, 1680 mHz, radiosonde for telemetry and to measure pressure, temperature, and relative humidity profiles. The combined instruments were ejected from aircraft, and others were released from balloons into the region of interest.Eight flights were made during the 1967 thunderstorm season. Three of these drops were successful in measuring conductivity inside of electrically active clouds. Two fair-weather profiles were measured for comparison purposes, and three of the drops were faulty.These very preliminary results tend to indicate considerable electrical conductivity in thunderclouds. The data are too few to support a strong statement in favor of increased conductivity, but the instruments were sufficiently reliable to prove that the conductivity was not reduced, as is normally assumed, in the clouds investigated.This research was supported by the Atmospheric Sciences Section, National Science Foundation under Grant GA-701.     

The measurement of electric fields in clouds

Summary The theory and practice of construction of field mills for static and slowly varying electric fields are discussed. A developed design for a differential field mill suitable for use inside thunderclouds is presented with methods for optimization of the device under usual conditions. This design has been tested both in clouds and in fair weather fields, comparing in the latter case with normal ground based electric field meters.     

The centenary of solar-terrestrial physics

The years 1900–1902 saw important scientific landmarks, namely Marconi's transatlantic radio experiment and theoretical ideas of Lodge and Fitzgerald about what are now known as the solar wind, magnetosphere and ionosphere. These advances built on previous ideas put forward by several European scientists. Taking the discovery of the electron in 1897 as a prerequisite for real physical understanding of solar-terrestrial phenomena, the present time is the centenary of solar-terrestrial physics. Concentrating on the years around 1900, this paper also selects landmarks from 1600 onwards that led up to that time, and some from subsequent decades.     

Deuterium in interstellar clouds

Increasing numbers of observations of deuterium ratios have revealed that all is not as it seemed in interstellar space. Tom Millar describes how fractionation theory has confirmed the importance of interstellar grains in cosmic chemistry.     

Some aspects of cumulus convection

Various aspects of the cumulus convection problem, such as the creation of shallow cumulus by cellular convection in the surface layer of the atmosphere, the formation of cloud rolls along the direction of the mean wind and their amplitude modulation, the development of the individual cumulus and their penetration into the inversion layer and the initiation of the squall line type disturbances, are discussed.     

The role of sodium bicarbonate in the nucleation of noctilucent clouds

It is proposed that a component of meteoric smoke, sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO₃), provides particularly effective condensation nuclei for noctilucent clouds. This assertion is based on three conditions being met. The first is that NaHCO₃ is present at sufficient concentration (10⁴ cm^–3) in the upper mesosphere between 80 and 90 km. It is demonstrated that there is strong evidence for this based on recent laboratory measurements coupled with atmospheric modelling. The second condition is that the thermodynamics of NaHCO₃(H₂O)_n cluster formation allow spontaneous nucleation to occur under mesospheric conditions at temperatures below 140 K. The Gibbs free energy changes for forming clusters with n = 1 and 2 were computed from quantum calculations using hybrid density functional/Hartree-Fock (B3LYP) theory and a large basis set with added polarization and diffuse functions. The results were then extrapolated to higher n using an established dependence of the free energy on cluster size and the free energy for the sublimation of H₂O to bulk ice. A 1-dimensional model of sodium chemistry was then employed to show that spontaneous nucleation to form ice particles (n > 100) should occur between 84 and 89 km in the high-latitude summer mesosphere. The third condition is that other metallic components of meteoric smoke are less effective condensation nuclei, so that the total number of potential nuclei is small relative to the amount of available H₂O. Quantum calculations indicate that this is probably the case for major constituents such as Fe(OH)₂, FeO₃ and MgCO₃.     

The theoretical model of the drop spectrum formation process in clouds

Summary In this paper the theoretical model of cloud spectrum formation process is built in which spectrum formation and its development are followed by and these observations find no contradictions, beginning with air ascent containing condensation of nuclei and up to large drop formation falling out off the cloud. Both the obtained results of velocity spectrum formation and the form of distribution function corresponds to the direct observations. The model does not use any empirical relations and empirical regularities; it is free from arbitrary suppositions and assumptions which are not examined by experiments, and the number of parameters in it is limited by ones (vertical velocityU _z, turbulent diffusion coefficientK _z and two parameter distribution function of nucleus condensation with super-saturation). First in the developed theory the principal contradictions not allowing till now to connect together condensational and coagulation stages of cloud spectrum development are overcome.     

The structure and origin of magnetic clouds in the solar wind

Plasma and magnetic field data from the Helios 1/2 spacecraft have been used to investigate the structure of magnetic clouds (MCs) in the inner heliosphere. 46 MCs were identified in the Helios data for the period 1974–1981 between 0.3 and 1 AU. 85% of the MCs were associated with fast-forward interplanetary shock waves, supporting the close association between MCs and SMEs (solar mass ejections). Seven MCs were identified as direct consequences of Helios-directed SMEs, and the passage of MCs agreed with that of interplanetary plasma clouds (IPCs) identified as white-light brightness enhancements in the Helios photometer data. The total (plasma and magnetic field) pressure in MCs was higher and the plasma- lower than in the surrounding solar wind. Minimum variance analysis (MVA) showed that MCs can best be described as large-scale quasi-cylindrical magnetic flux tubes. The axes of the flux tubes usually had a small inclination to the ecliptic plane, with their azimuthal direction close to the east-west direction. The large-scale flux tube model for MCs was validated by the analysis of multi-spacecraft observations. MCs were observed over a range of up to 60° in solar longitude in the ecliptic having the same magnetic configuration. The Helios observations further showed that over-expansion is a common feature of MCs. From a combined study of Helios, Voyager and IMP data we found that the radial diameter of MCs increases between 0.3 and 4.2 AU proportional to the distance, R, from the Sun as R^0.8 (R in AU). The density decrease inside MCs was found to be proportional to R^–2.4, thus being stronger compared to the average solar wind. Four different magnetic configurations, as expected from the flux-tube concept, for MCs have been observed in situ by the Helios probes. MCs with left-and right-handed magnetic helicity occurred with about equal frequencies during 1974–1981, but surprisingly, the majority (74%) of the MCs had a south to north (SN) rotation of the magnetic field vector relative to the ecliptic. In contrast, an investigation of solar wind data obtained near Earths orbit during 1984–1991 showed a preference for NS-clouds. A direct correlation was found between MCs and large quiescent filament disappearances (disparition brusques, DBs). The magnetic configurations of the filaments, as inferred from the orientation of the prominence axis, the polarity of the overlying field lines and the hemispheric helicity pattern observed for filaments, agreed well with the in situ observed magnetic structure of the associated MCs. The results support the model of MCs as large-scale expanding quasi-cylindrical magnetic flux tubes in the solar wind, most likely caused by SMEs associated with eruptions of large quiescent filaments. We suggest that the hemispheric dependence of the magnetic helicity structure observed for solar filaments can explain the preferred orientation of MCs in interplanetary space as well as their solar cycle behavior. However, the white-light features of SMEs and the measured volumes of their interplanetary counterparts suggest that MCs may not simply be just H-prominences, but that SMEs likely convect large-scale coronal loops overlying the prominence axis out of the solar atmosphere.     

The search for cosmic ray effects on clouds

The cause of the correlation of low cloud cover with the sunspot cycle, and the associated cosmic ray intensity, is still the subject of controversy. Insofar as ‘clouds’ come in different types with, doubtless, different sensitivities to the cloud condensation nuclei (charged or otherwise) it is useful to search for differences in the correlation between cloud types. Here, we examine the major cloud components: stratiform and cumuliform, the latter with its much higher upthrust velocities being expected to be less efficient as cosmic ray induced cloud generation. No difference is found between the two types of cloud, in the sense that there is no dependence on the fraction of cloud of stratiform type for the various parameters studied. This result is true over the Globe as a whole and as a function of cosmic ray cutoff rigidity. Once more there is no support for the cosmic ray hypothesis for cloud modulation. There is no obvious implication for the alternative hypotheses of solar irradiance modulation, but this is probably still the more likely.     

Spectral properties of clouds

Summary In the shortwave region the variations of the spectral properties of clouds are due only to the variations of optical characteristics of water. It results in small variations in the scattering pattern. In the longwave region scattering and absorption are of essentially diffraction character. Results of computation for a typical cloud drop are given; the accuracy of «the layer of precipitated water» method is analysed; thicknesses of cloud layers are investigated when the flux incoming into a cloud gradually deforms into the blackbody radiation flux.

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Wavelet analysis of turbulence in cirrus clouds

Two flights of the UK Meteorological Offices Hercules aircraft through daytime frontal cirrus around Scotland have been analysed using wavelet analysis on the vertical velocity time-series from the horizontal runs. It is shown that wavelet analysis is a useful tool for analysing the turbulence data in cirrus clouds. It finds the largest scales involved in producing turbulence, as does Fourier analysis, such as the 2-km spectral peaks corresponding to convective activity during flight A283. Wavelet spectra have the added advantage that the position is shown, and so they identify smaller-scale, highly localised processes such as the production of turbulent kinetic energy by the breaking of Kelvin-Helmholtz waves due to the vertical shear in the horizontal wind. These may be lost in Fourier spectra obtained for long time-series, though they contribute something to the average spectral density at the appropriate scale. The main disadvantage of this technique is that only octave frequency bands are resolved.     

The importance of choosing precipitation datasets

Precipitation data are important for hydrometeorological analyses, yet there are many ways to measure precipitation. The impact of station density analysed by the current study by comparing measurements from the Missouri Mesonet available via the Missouri Climate Center and Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) measurements archived at the program website. The CoCoRaHS data utilize citizen scientists to report precipitation data providing for much denser data resolution than available through the Mesonet. Although previous research has shown the reliability of CoCoRaHS data, the results here demonstrate important differences in details of the spatial and temporal distribution of annual precipitation across the state of Missouri using the two data sets. Furthermore, differences in the warm and cold season distributions are presented, some of which may be related to interannual variability such as that associated with the El Niño and Southern Oscillation. The contradictory results from two widely‐used datasets display the importance in properly choosing precipitation data that have vastly differing temporal and spatial resolutions. With significantly different yearly aggregated precipitation values, the authors stress caution in selecting 1 particular rainfall dataset as conclusions drawn could be unrepresentative of the actual values. This issue may be remediated by increased spatiotemporal coverage of precipitation data.     

A steady-state model of a cumulus cloud

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The influence of cosmic rays on terrestrial clouds and global warming

We analyse the new ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) D2 cloud data to ascertain if a connection between cosmic-ray flux and cloud cover exists. Despite a previous finding that total-cloud factor and cosmic-ray fluxes were correlated, our results indicate that only the low-level cloud follows solar activity over the full period, 1983–94. Using several proxies for solar activity and the radiative forcing calculated by Ockert-Bell (1992) for the ISCCP cloud types, we estimate the possible impact that such a solar–terrestrial connection may have on climate. We conclude that, possibly excluding the most recent decades, much of the warming of the past century can be quantitatively accounted for by the direct and indirect effects of solar activity.