scholarly journals Modelling the effects of gravity waves on stratocumulus clouds observed during VOCALS-UK

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1717-1765
Author(s):  
P. J. Connolly ◽  
G. Vaughan ◽  
P. Cook ◽  
G. Allen ◽  
H. Coe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Wave Packets ◽  
Wave Crest ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Dry Air ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds ◽  
Wave Trough ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds

Abstract. During the VOCALS campaign spaceborne satellite observations showed that travelling gravity wave packets, generated by geostrophic adjustment, resulted in perturbations to marine boundary layer clouds over the south east Pacific ocean. Often, these perturbations were reversible in that passage of the wave resulted in the clouds becoming brighter (in the wave crest) then darker (in the wave trough) and subsequently recovering their properties after the passage of the wave. However, occasionally the wave packets triggered irreversible changes to the clouds, which transformed from closed mesoscale cellular convection to open form. In this paper we use large eddy simulation (LES) to examine the physical mechanisms that cause this transition. Specifically, we examine whether the clearing of the cloud is due to: (i) the wave causing additional cloud-top entrainment of warm, dry air or (ii) whether the additional condensation of liquid water onto the existing drops and the subsequent formation of drizzle are the important mechanisms. We find that although the wave does cause additional drizzle formation, this is not the reason for the persistent clearing of the cloud; rather it is the additional entrainment of warm, dry air into the cloud, although this only has a significant effect when the cloud is starting to de-couple from the boundary layer. The result in this case is a change from a stratocumulus to a more cumulus-like regime. For the simulations presented here, cloud condensation nuclei scavenging did not play an important role in the clearing of the cloud. The results have implications for understanding transitions between the different cellular regimes in marine boundary layer clouds.

scholarly journals Modelling the effects of gravity waves on stratocumulus clouds observed during VOCALS-UK

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7133-7152 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Connolly ◽  
G. Vaughan ◽  
P. Cook ◽  
G. Allen ◽  
H. Coe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Wave Packets ◽  
Wave Crest ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
Dry Air ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Wave Trough ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds

Abstract. During the VOCALS campaign spaceborne satellite observations showed that travelling gravity wave packets, generated by geostrophic adjustment, resulted in perturbations to marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds over the south-east Pacific Ocean (SEP). Often, these perturbations were reversible in that passage of the wave resulted in the clouds becoming brighter (in the wave crest), then darker (in the wave trough) and subsequently recovering their properties after the passage of the wave. However, occasionally the wave packets triggered irreversible changes to the clouds, which transformed from closed mesoscale cellular convection to open form. In this paper we use large eddy simulation (LES) to examine the physical mechanisms that cause this transition. Specifically, we examine whether the clearing of the cloud is due to (i) the wave causing additional cloud-top entrainment of warm, dry air or (ii) whether the additional condensation of liquid water onto the existing drops and the subsequent formation of drizzle are the important mechanisms. We find that, although the wave does cause additional drizzle formation, this is not the reason for the persistent clearing of the cloud; rather it is the additional entrainment of warm, dry air into the cloud followed by a reduction in longwave cooling, although this only has a significant effect when the cloud is starting to decouple from the boundary layer. The result in this case is a change from a stratocumulus to a more patchy cloud regime. For the simulations presented here, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) scavenging did not play an important role in the clearing of the cloud. The results have implications for understanding transitions between the different cellular regimes in marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds.

Can Marine Cloud Brightening Reduce Sea-Surface Temperatures to Moderate Extreme Hurricanes and Typhoons?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salter SH ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Sea Surface Temperatures ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Cloud Tops

Elevated sea-surface temperatures are a necessary but not sufficient requirement for the formation of hurricanes and typhoons. This paper suggests a way to exploit this. Twomey [1] showed that cloud reflectivity depends on the size-distribution of cloud drops, with a large number of small drops reflecting more than a smaller number of larger ones. Mid-ocean air is cleaner than over land. Latham [2-4] suggested that reflectivity of marine stratocumulus clouds could be increased by releasing a submicron spray of filtered sea water into the bottom of the marine boundary layer. The salt residues left after evaporation would be mixed by turbulence through the full depth of the marine boundary layer and would be ideal cloud condensation nuclei. Those that reached a height where the air had a super-saturation above 100% by enough to get over the peak of the Köhler curve would produce an increased number of cloud drops and so trigger the Twomey effect. The increase in reflection from cloud tops back out to space would cool sea-surface water. We are not trying to increase cloud cover; we just want to make existing cloud tops whiter. The spray could be produced by wind-driven vessels cruising chosen ocean regions. The engineering design of sea-going hardware is well advanced. This paper suggests a way to calculate spray quantities and the number and cost of spray vessels to achieve a hurricane reduction to a more acceptable intensity. It is intended to show the shape of a possible calculation with credible if not exact assumptions. Anyone with better assumptions should be able to follow the process.

scholarly journals Cloud Processing of Aerosol Particles in Marine Stratocumulus Clouds

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea I. Flossmann ◽  
Wolfram Wobrock
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Aerosol Particles ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds ◽  
Cloud Processing ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds

Cloud processing of aerosol particles is an important process and is, for example, thought to be responsible for the so-called “Hoppel-minimum” in the marine aerosol particle distribution or contribute to the cell organization of marine boundary layer clouds. A numerical study of the temporal and spatial scales of the processing of aerosol particles by typical marine stratocumulus clouds is presented. The dynamical framework is inspired by observations during the VOCALS (Variability of the American Monsoon System Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study) Regional Experiment in the Southeast Pacific. The 3-D mesoscale model version of DESCAM (Detailed Scavenging Model) follows cloud microphysics of the stratocumulus deck in a bin-resolved manner and has been extended to keep track of cloud-processed particles in addition to non-processed aerosol particles in the air and inside the cloud drops. The simulation follows the evolution of the processing of aerosol particles by the cloud. It is found that within one hour almost all boundary layer aerosol particles have passed through at least one cloud cycle. However, as the in-cloud residence times of the particles in the considered case are only on the order of minutes, the aerosol particles remain essentially unchanged. Our findings suggest that in order to produce noticeable microphysical and dynamical effects in the marine boundary layer clouds, cloud processing needs to continue for extended periods of time, exceeding largely the time period considered in the present study. A second model study is dedicated to the interaction of ship track particles with marine boundary layer clouds. The model simulates quite satisfactorily the incorporation of the ship plume particles into the cloud. The observed time and spatial scales and a possible Twomey effect were reproduced.

scholarly journals Mind the gap – Part 1: Accurately locating warm marine boundary layer clouds and precipitation using spaceborne radars

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2363-2379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Lamer ◽  
Pavlos Kollias ◽  
Alessandro Battaglia ◽  
Simon Preval
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Short Pulse ◽  
Pulse Mode ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Eastern North Atlantic ◽  
Long Pulse

Abstract. Ground-based radar observations show that, over the eastern North Atlantic, 50 % of warm marine boundary layer (WMBL) hydrometeors occur below 1.2 km and have reflectivities of < −17 dBZ, thus making their detection from space susceptible to the extent of surface clutter and radar sensitivity. Surface clutter limits the ability of the CloudSat cloud profiling radar (CPR) to observe the true cloud base in ∼52 % of the cloudy columns it detects and true virga base in ∼80 %, meaning the CloudSat CPR often provides an incomplete view of even the clouds it does detect. Using forward simulations, we determine that a 250 m resolution radar would most accurately capture the boundaries of WMBL clouds and precipitation; that being said, because of sensitivity limitations, such a radar would suffer from cloud cover biases similar to those of the CloudSat CPR. Observations and forward simulations indicate that the CloudSat CPR fails to detect 29 %–43 % of the cloudy columns detected by ground-based sensors. Out of all configurations tested, the 7 dB more sensitive EarthCARE CPR performs best (only missing 9.0 % of cloudy columns) indicating that improving radar sensitivity is more important than decreasing the vertical extent of surface clutter for measuring cloud cover. However, because 50 % of WMBL systems are thinner than 400 m, they tend to be artificially stretched by long sensitive radar pulses, hence the EarthCARE CPR overestimation of cloud top height and hydrometeor fraction. Thus, it is recommended that the next generation of space-borne radars targeting WMBL science should operate interlaced pulse modes including both a highly sensitive long-pulse mode and a less sensitive but clutter-limiting short-pulse mode.

Regional flow conditions associated with stratocumulus cloud-eroding boundaries over the southeast Atlantic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. Tomkins ◽  
David B. Mechem ◽  
Sandra E. Yuter ◽  
Spencer R. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Weather Research And Forecasting ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Boundary Layer Height ◽  
Regional Flow ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Offshore Flow ◽  
Passive Tracers ◽  
Atmospheric Gravity

AbstractLarge, abrupt clearing events have been documented in the marine stratocumulus cloud deck over the subtropical Southeast Atlantic Ocean. In these events, clouds are rapidly eroded along a line hundreds–to–thousands of kilometers in length that generally moves westward away from the coast. Because marine stratocumulus clouds exert a strong cooling effect on the planet, any phenomenon that acts to erode large areas of low clouds may be climatically important. Previous satellite-based research suggests that the cloud-eroding boundaries may be caused by westward-propagating atmospheric gravity waves rather than simple advection of the cloud. The behavior of the coastal offshore flow, which is proposed as a fundamental physical mechanism associated with the clearing events, is explored using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Results are presented from several week-long simulations in the month of May when cloud-eroding boundaries exhibit maximum frequency. Two simulations cover periods containing multiple cloud-eroding boundaries (active periods), and two other simulations cover periods without any cloud-eroding boundaries (null periods). Passive tracers and an analysis of mass flux are used to assess the character of the diurnal west-African coastal circulation. Results indicate that the active periods containing cloud-eroding boundaries regularly experience stronger and deeper nocturnal offshore flow from the continent above the marine boundary layer, compared to the null periods. Additionally, we find that the boundary layer height is higher in the null periods than in the active periods, suggesting that the active periods are associated with areas of thinner clouds that may be more susceptible to cloud erosion.

Exploring microphysical properties of marine boundary layer clouds through network analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucile Ricard ◽  
Athanasios Nenes ◽  
Jakob Runge ◽  
Paraskevi Georgakaki
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Eddy Simulations ◽  
Dynamical Structure ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Large Eddy

&lt;p&gt;Aerosol-cloud interactions remain the largest uncertainty in assessments of anthropogenic climate forcing, while the complexity of these interactions require methods that enable abstractions and simplifications that allow their improved treatment in climate models. Marine boundary layer clouds are an important component of the climate system as their large albedo and spatial coverage strongly affect the planetary radiative balance. High resolution simulations of clouds provide an unprecedented understanding of the structure and behavior of these clouds in the marine atmosphere, but the amount of data is often too large and complex to be useful in climate simulations. Data reduction and inference methods provide a way that to reduce the complexity and dimensionality of datasets generated from high-resolution Large Eddy Simulations.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this study we use network analysis, (the &amp;#948;-Maps method) to study the complex interaction between liquid water, droplet number and vertical velocity in Large Eddy Simulations of Marine Boundary Layer clouds. &amp;#948;-Maps identifies domains that are spatially contiguous and possibly overlapping and characterizes their connections and temporal interactions. The objective is to better understand microphysical properties of marine boundary layer clouds, and how they are impacted by the variability in aerosols. Here we will capture the dynamical structure of the cloud fields predicted by the MIMICA Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model. The networks inferred from the different simulation fields are compared between them (intra-comparisons) using perturbations in initial conditions and aerosol, using a set of four metrics. The networks are then evaluated for their differences, quantifying how much variability is inherent in the LES simulations versus the robust changes induced by the aerosol fields.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

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