scholarly journals Observational Relationship Between Entrainment Rate and Environmental Relative Humidity and Implications for Convection Parameterization

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunsong Lu ◽  
Cheng Sun ◽  
Yangang Liu ◽  
Guang J. Zhang ◽  
Yanluan Lin ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Hugh Morrison ◽  
John M. Peters ◽  
Kamal Kant Chandakar ◽  
Steven C. Sherwood

AbstractThis study examines two factors impacting initiation of moist deep convection: free tropospheric environmental relative humidity (ϕE) and horizon scale of sub-cloud ascent (Rsub), the latter exerting a dominant control on cumulus cloud width. A simple theoretical model is used to formulate a “scale selection” hypothesis: that a minimum Rsub is required for moist convection to go deep, and that this minimum scale decreases with increasing ϕE. Specifically, the ratio of to saturation deficit (1–ϕE) must exceed a certain threshold value that depends on cloud-layer environmental lapse rate. Idealized, large-eddy simulations of moist convection forced by horizontally-varying surface fluxes show strong sensitivity of maximum cumulus height to both ϕE and Rsub consistent with the hypothesis. Increasing Rsub by only 300-400 m can lead to a large increase (> 5 km) in cloud height. A passive tracer analysis shows that the bulk fractional entrainment rate decreases rapidly with Rsub but depends little on ϕE. However, buoyancy dilution increases as either Rsub or ϕE decreases; buoyancy above the level of free convection is rapidly depleted in dry environments when Rsub is small. While deep convective initiation occurs with an increase in relative humidity of the near environment from moistening by earlier convection, the importance of this moisture preconditioning is inconclusive as it is accompanied by an increase in Rsub. Overall, it is concluded that small changes to Rsub driven by external forcing or by convection itself could be a dominant regulator of deep convective initiation.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (19) ◽  
pp. 4046-4064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guang J. Zhang ◽  
Mingquan Mu

Abstract This study presents the simulation of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO) in the NCAR CCM3 using a modified Zhang–McFarlane convection parameterization scheme. It is shown that, with the modified scheme, the intraseasonal (20–80 day) variability in precipitation, zonal wind, and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is enhanced substantially compared to the standard CCM3 simulation. Using a composite technique based on the empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, the paper demonstrates that the simulated MJOs are in better agreement with the observations than the standard model in many important aspects. The amplitudes of the MJOs in 850-mb zonal wind, precipitation, and OLR are comparable to those of the observations, and the MJOs show clearly eastward propagation from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. In contrast, the simulated MJOs in the standard CCM3 simulation are weak and have a tendency to propagate westward in the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, there remain several deficiencies that are yet to be addressed. The time period of the MJOs is shorter, about 30 days, compared to the observed time period of 40 days. The spatial scale of the precipitation signal is smaller than observed. Examination of convective heating from both deep and shallow convection and its relationship with moisture anomalies indicates that near the mature phase of the MJO, regions of shallow convection developing ahead of the deep convection coincide with regions of positive moisture anomalies in the lower troposphere. This is consistent with the recent observations and theoretical development that shallow convection helps to precondition the atmosphere for MJO by moistening the lower troposphere. Sensitivity tests are performed on the individual changes in the modified convection scheme. They show that both change of closure and use of a relative humidity threshold for the convection trigger play important roles in improving the MJO simulation. Use of the new closure leads to the eastward propagation of the MJO and increases the intensity of the MJO signal in the wind field, while imposing a relative humidity threshold enhances the MJO variability in precipitation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 923-926
Author(s):  
Angela Yoon ◽  
Chin‐Chi Liu ◽  
Renee T. Carter ◽  
Andrew C. Lewin

2008 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 378-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joke A. Bouwstra ◽  
H. Wouter W. Groenink ◽  
Joop A. Kempenaar ◽  
Stefan G. Romeijn ◽  
Maria Ponec

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (4) ◽  
pp. 1495-1509 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-P. Duvel ◽  
S. J. Camargo ◽  
A. H. Sobel

Abstract The authors analyze how modifications of the convective scheme modify the initiation of tropical depression vortices (TDVs) and their intensification into stronger warm-cored tropical cyclone–like vortices (TCs) in global climate model (GCM) simulations. The model’s original convection scheme has entrainment and cloud-base mass flux closures based on moisture convergence. Two modifications are considered: one in which entrainment is dependent on relative humidity and another in which the closure is based on the convective available potential energy (CAPE). Compared to reanalysis, TDVs are more numerous and intense in all three simulations, probably as a result of excessive parameterized deep convection at the expense of convection detraining at midlevel. The relative humidity–dependent entrainment rate increases both TDV initiation and intensification relative to the control. This is because this entrainment rate is reduced in the moist center of the TDVs, giving more intense convective precipitation, and also because it generates a moister environment that may favor the development of early stage TDVs. The CAPE closure inhibits the parameterized convection in strong TDVs, thus limiting their development despite a slight increase in the resolved convection. However, the maximum intensity reached by TC-like TDVs is similar in the three simulations, showing the statistical character of these tendencies. The simulated TCs develop from TDVs with different dynamical origins than those observed. For instance, too many TDVs and TCs initiate near or over southern West Africa in the GCM, collocated with the maximum in easterly wave activity, whose characteristics are also dependent on the convection scheme considered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 3661-3681 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Peters ◽  
Hugh Morrison ◽  
Adam C. Varble ◽  
Walter M. Hannah ◽  
Scott E. Giangrande

AbstractResearch has suggested that the structure of deep convection often consists of a series of rising thermals, or “thermal chain,” which contrasts with existing conceptual models that are used to construct cumulus parameterizations. Simplified theoretical expressions for updraft properties obtained in Part I of this study are used to develop a hypothesis explaining why this structure occurs. In this hypothesis, cumulus updraft structure is strongly influenced by organized entrainment below the updraft’s vertical velocity maximum. In a dry environment, this enhanced entrainment can locally reduce condensation rates and increase evaporation, thus eroding buoyancy. For moderate-to-large initial cloud radius R, this breaks up the updraft into a succession of discrete pulses of rising motion (i.e., a thermal chain). For small R, this leads to the structure of a single, isolated rising thermal. In contrast, moist environments are hypothesized to favor plume-like updrafts for moderate-to-large R. In a series of axisymmetric numerical cloud simulations, R and environmental relative humidity (RH) are systematically varied to test this hypothesis. Vertical profiles of fractional entrainment rate, passive tracer concentration, buoyancy, and vertical velocity from these runs agree well with vertical profiles calculated from the theoretical expressions in Part I. Analysis of the simulations supports the hypothesized dependency of updraft structure on R and RH, that is, whether it consists of an isolated thermal, a thermal chain, or a plume, and the role of organized entrainment in driving this dependency. Additional three-dimensional (3D) turbulent cloud simulations are analyzed, and the behavior of these 3D runs is qualitatively consistent with the theoretical expressions and axisymmetric simulations.


Cellulose ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (17) ◽  
pp. 10303-10312
Author(s):  
R. Maldzius ◽  
T. Lozovski ◽  
J. Sidaravicius ◽  
K. Backfolk ◽  
I. Heiskanen

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 1399-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. Garcia-Fernandez ◽  
M. I. Alvarez-Fernandez ◽  
R. Cardoso ◽  
C. Gonzalez-Nicieza

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