On the role of vertical resolution in the analysis of shallow convective fields

Summary The present paper is an attempt to demonstrate the fact that misleading information about the thermodynamic structure of shallow cumulus fields is obtained when standard isobaric level (SIL) data input is used. The 1-D cumulus model serves as the main tool of examination and the reference input data are those of significant levels (SL) in soundings. The computed cloud tops (SIL) exceeded (SL) tops in nearly 80% of the cases and the excesses are more than 1 kilometre in 25% of the cases. Some discrepancies were also found in potential stability analysis. The local changes in equivalent potential temperature may be seriously affected and even falsified. The important role of high resolution in studies of mesoscale phenomena was again accentuated.

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mam mum ¶rt;aam, m u am u¶rt; ¶rt;a unam ¶rt;a ma¶rt;am uauu (SIL), m num uauu m¶rt;uau mm mu n. ¶rt;m, una nu u¶rt;auu, m ¶rt;a ¶rt; aa, a am n ¶rt; au unm ¶rt;a au ¶rt;aa. auma u a ¶rt; SIL n¶rt;m n au 80% a, a 25% a ¶rt;a a 1 . au ma ma nu aau nmua mumu. aQj uu uam nmua mnam m m aum ua. n¶rt;uam aa aua nmu nu uuu u a.