Do stratocumulus clouds detrain? FIRE I data revisited

Analyses of aircraft observations of the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer during the First ISCCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment (FIRE I) show the frequent presence of clear, but relatively moist, air patches near the stratocumulus cloud-top interface. A conditional sampling of measurements in these clear air patches shows that their thermodynamic properties do more resemble boundary-layer air characteristics than those of free troposphere air. From an aircraft leg through cloud tops it is demonstrated that turbulent mixing across the cloud-top interface can lead to the local dissipation of the cloud top. Analogous to the terminology used for shallow cumulus parameterizations this process can be considered as detrainment, with which we mean that after a mixing event across the cloud-top boundaries, mixed unsaturated parcels become part of the clear environment of the cloud.     

Analysis of Astex-Stratocumulus Observational Data Using a Mass-Flux Approach

A mass-flux approach is applied to observational data obtained in a convective boundary layer topped with stratocumulus clouds. The observational data were obtained from aircraft measurements during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX). A conditional sampling method is used to calculate average updraft and downdraft values. The vertical fluxes calculated with the mass-flux approach are found to be proportional to the real (measured) fluxes, with a proportionality factor being about 0.6. This value is predicted by theory for two variables having a joint Gaussian distribution function; proportionality factor = 2^-1 0.637. The horizontal fractional entrainment and detrainment rates calculated from the data ( 1–2 × 10^-2 m^-1) are an order of magnitude higher than the rates obtained by large eddy simulations for cumulus convection ( 2–3 × 10^-3 m^-1) and two orders of magnitude higher than those used in modelling cumulus convection with a mass-flux scheme in an operational weather forecast model ( 3 × 10^-4 m^-1). A numerical mass-flux model for the thermodynamics was developed and showed that results are in good agreement when compared with measured profiles of the liquid water content.     

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.     

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.     

Countergradient Fluxes of Conserved Variables in the Clear convective and Stratocumulus-topped Boundary Layer: The role of the Entrainment Flux

Large-eddy simulations of a clear convective boundary layer (CBL)and a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer are studied. Bottom-upand a top-down scalars were included in the simulations, and theprinciple of linear superposition of variables was applied toreconstruct the fields of any arbitrary conserved variable.This approach allows a systematic analysis of countergradient fluxesas a function of the flux ratio, which is defined as the ratio betweenthe entrainment flux and the surface flux of the conserved quantity.In general, the turbulent flux of an arbitrary conserved quantityis counter to the mean vertical gradient if the heights where thevertical flux and the mean vertical gradient change sign do notcoincide. The regime where the flux is countergradient is thereforebounded by the so-called zero-flux and zero-gradient heights. Becausethe vertical flux changes sign only if the entrainment flux has anopposite sign to the surface flux, countergradient fluxes arepredominantly found for negative flux ratios. In the CBL the fluxratio for the virtual potential temperature is, to a good approximation,constant, and equal to -0.2. Only if the moisture contribution to thevirtual potential temperature is negligibly small will the flux ratio forthe potential temperature be equal to this value. Otherwise, theflux ratio for the potential temperature can have any arbitrary(negative) value, and, as a consequence, the fluxes for thepotential temperature and the virtual potential temperature willbe countergradient at different heights. As a practical application ofthe results, vertical profiles of the countergradient correction termfor different entrainment-to-surface-flux ratios are discussed.     

Cloud radiative forcing of subtropical low level clouds in global models

Simulations of subtropical marine low clouds and their radiative properties by nine coupled ocean-atmosphere climate models participating in the fourth assesment report (AR4) of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC) are analyzed. Satellite observations of cloudiness and radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) are utilized for comparison. The analysis is confined to the marine subtropics in an attempt to isolate low cloudiness from tropical convective systems. All analyzed models have a negative bias in the low cloud fraction (model mean bias of −15%). On the other hand, the models show an excess of cloud radiative cooling in the region (model mean excess of 13 W m⁻²). The latter bias is shown to mainly originate from too much shortwave reflection by the models clouds rather than biases in the clear-sky fluxes. These results confirm earlier studies, thus no major progress in simulating the marine subtropical clouds is noted. As a consequence of the combination of these two biases, this study suggests that all investigated models are likely to overestimate the radiative response to changes in low level subtropical cloudiness.     

山西夏季层积云降水微物理特征分析

利用Droplet Measureinent TeehnologY（DMT）资料,分析了山西2008年7月17日降水性层积云的云微物理结构,通过对云中粒子浓度、直径、二维图像以及谱型分布变化,并结合宏观记录特征,详细分析了飞机上升和下降阶段云系的垂直结构特征。结果表明：飞机上升阶段云系为高积云,飞机下降阶段云系为高积云一层积云结构,Cloud Droplet Probe（CDP）和Cloud Imaging Probe（CIP）测得粒子浓度偏大,最大浓度分别为236em。和9．74cm^-3。层积云云中微物理量水平分布特征具有明显的不均匀性。上升阶段降水的雨滴主要是冰粒子融化形成的,冷云过程占主导地位,在0℃层附近存在明显的融化层亮带。下降阶段降水机制为高积云冷云过程和层积云暖云过程相结合。     

A Sensitivity Study Of The Subtropical Ocean Surface Energy Balance To The Parameterization Of Precipitation From Stratocumulus Clouds

In the `First Lagrangian' of the Atlantic Stratocumulus Experiment(ASTEX), a cloudy air mass was tracked as it was advected by thetrade winds toward higher sea surface temperatures. In this study,a full diurnal cycle observed during this experiment is simulated andthe impact of the precipitation parameterization is examined. The modelwe use is the one dimensional version of the hydrostatic primitiveequation model MAR (Modéle Atmosphérique Régional) developed at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL).It includes an E- turbulence closure, a wide-band formulationof the radiative transfer, and a parameterized microphysical schemeallowing partial condensation. The model realistically reproducesthe diurnal clearing of the cloud layer as well as the formation ofcumulus clouds under the stratocumulus deck. Nevertheless, as thesurface warms and the boundary layer becomes more convective,the simulation progressively differs from the observed evolution.Further experiments are carried out with different precipitationparameterizations commonly used in mesoscale modelsand general circulation models (GCMs).A strong sensitivity of the simulated liquid water path evolution isfound. The impact on the surface energy flux and the solar fluxreflected by the cloud is also examined. For both fluxes averagedover 24 hours, differences as large as 20 W m^-2 are obtainedbetween the various simulations. Low cloudiness covers large areasover the ocean and such errors on the reflected solar flux may stronglyaffect the Earth's radiative budget in GCM simulations. We estimatethat the impact on the globally averaged outgoing solar flux could beas large as 5 W m^-2. Furthermore, when atmospheric models arecoupled to ocean models, errors in the surface energy exchanges mayinduce significant drift in the simulated climate.     

三江源地区秋季一次层积云飞机人工增雨催化试验的微物理响应

利用三江源地区一次在层积云顶部进行的飞机锯齿形催化作业及回穿探测的全球卫星定位系统(GPS)轨迹和机载云粒子测量系统(PMS)资料,在确定作业前后有效对比区间、区分云粒子相态的基础上,通过分析作业前、后液态云粒子及冰晶浓度变化、云粒子谱的演变和过冷水含量比率的变化,研究了催化的微物理响应。结果表明,作业区液态云粒子中值直径集中在3.5—18.5 μm,直径21.5—45.5 μm的云粒子基本上为冰晶,粒径大于50 μm的粒子相态为冰相;锯齿形作业后约2—23 min,在其航线下风方36 km范围内,前向散射粒子谱探头(FSSP-100)和二维灰度云粒子探头(OAP-2D-GA2,简称2DC)所测云粒子浓度、直径变化均未超出作业前云区内的自然起伏,但在过冷水含量大于0.01 g/m³的高过冷水区,液态云粒子浓度明显降低,前向散射粒子谱探头量程内的冰晶粒子浓度明显升高,冰相含水量增大,过冷水含量比率的平均值由作业前的 (68.3±23.1)% 减小至(34.2±12.4)% 。在过冷水含量越高的区域,催化效应越明显,而在低过冷水区和仅受原点催化影响的航迹交叉点处均未观测到催化响应。     

北太平洋夏季的两个典型层积云区与海温和大气低层热力过程的关系

比较ISCCP D2层积云云量的季节平均图后发现:除了大洋东部常年有层积云外,北太平洋夏季也存在一片大值区.在副热带东北太平洋和中纬度西北太平洋各取一个10°×10°的区域,分别记为NEP和NWP.利用OI-SST、NCEP/NCAR再分析资料和ERBE资料,通过相关和气候分析,提出了新的物理意义明确的稳定度判据,比较了NEP和NWP两个区的夏季层积云云量与海温、大气热力过程的异同.结果表明:夏季,NEP和NWP都有正的稳定度,有利于层积云的形成和维持.NEP区和NWP区夏季的海气温差、感热通量、潜热通量有明显的差异.从海温和夏季层积云云量的相关分析发现:在NEP区,海温滞后于层积云云量,其相关于滞后3个月时有最大负值,这可能是由于海洋有较大的热惯性,对层积云遮蔽太阳辐射而导致洋面降温的响应需要3个月;而在NWP区,则是海温超前于层积云云量,其相关于超前1个月时有最大负值,这可能是由于从5月份开始海温低于气温,且有暖空气平流,有利于随后层积云、层云和雾的形成.