scholarly journals Coupling between Large-Scale Atmospheric Processes and Mesoscale Land–Atmosphere Interactions in the U.S. Southern Great Plains during Summer. Part I: Case Studies

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1223-1246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Atmospheric Processes ◽  
Mesoscale Processes

Abstract This paper is Part I of a two-part study that uses high-resolution Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) simulations to investigate mesoscale land–atmosphere interactions in the summertime U.S. Southern Great Plains. The focus is on the atmospheric dynamics associated with mesoscale heterogeneity in the underlying surface fluxes: how shifts in meteorological regimes modulate these diurnal, mesoscale processes, and their overall impact at larger scales and over multiple diurnal cycles. Part I examines individual case study time periods drawn from the simulations that illustrate general points about the key land–atmosphere interactions. The main findings are as follows: The mesoscale processes are embedded within a synoptic-scale organization that controls the background meteorological regime at a given location. During the clear, dry days in the simulated months, heterogeneity in the surface fluxes forces strong, lower-tropospheric, mesoscale circulations that exhibit a characteristic dynamical life cycle over diurnal time scales. In general, the background large-scale flow does not affect the overall intensity of these coherent roll structures, though strong large-scale subsidence can sometimes dampen them. In addition, depending on the thermodynamic profile, the strong vertical motions associated with these circulations are sufficient to trigger shallow or even deep convection, with associated clouds and precipitation. Furthermore, surface heterogeneity sufficient to force such circulations can arise even without heterogeneity in preexisting land cover characteristics such as vegetation, for example, solely as a result of spatial variability in rainfall and other atmospheric processes. In Part II the mesoscale land–atmosphere interactions in these case study periods are placed in the larger context of the full, monthlong simulations.

scholarly journals Coupling between Large-Scale Atmospheric Processes and Mesoscale Land–Atmosphere Interactions in the U.S. Southern Great Plains during Summer. Part II: Mean Impacts of the Mesoscale

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1247-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Weaver
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Surface Heterogeneity ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Mesoscale Circulations ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Atmospheric Processes

Abstract This is Part II of a two-part study of mesoscale land–atmosphere interactions in the summertime U.S. Southern Great Plains. Part I focused on case studies drawn from monthlong (July 1995–97), high-resolution Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) simulations carried out to investigate these interactions. These case studies were chosen to highlight key features of the lower-tropospheric mesoscale circulations that frequently arise in this region and season due to mesoscale heterogeneity in the surface fluxes. In this paper, Part II, the RAMS-simulated mesoscale dynamical processes described in the Part I case studies are examined from a domain-averaged perspective to assess their importance in the overall regional hydrometeorology. The spatial statistics of key simulated mesoscale variables—for example, vertical velocity and the vertical flux of water vapor—are quantified here. Composite averages of the mesoscale and large-scale-mean variables over different meteorological or dynamical regimes are also calculated. The main finding is that, during dry periods, or similarly, during periods characterized by large-scale-mean subsidence, the characteristic signature of surface-heterogeneity-forced mesoscale circulations, including enhanced vertical motion variability and enhanced mesoscale fluxes in the lowest few kilometers of the atmosphere, consistently emerges. Furthermore, the impact of these mesoscale circulations is nonnegligible compared to the large-scale dynamics at domain-averaged (200 km × 200 km) spatial scales and weekly to monthly time scales. These findings support the hypothesis that the land– atmosphere interactions associated with mesoscale surface heterogeneity can provide pathways whereby diurnal, mesoscale atmospheric processes can scale up to have more general impacts at larger spatial scales and over longer time scales.

scholarly journals Land-atmosphere coupling at the U.S. Southern Great Plains: A comparison on local convective regimes between ARM observations, reanalysis, and climate model simulations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Tao ◽  
Yunyan Zhang ◽  
Qi Tang ◽  
Hsi-Yen Ma ◽  
Virendra P. Ghate ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Early Morning ◽  
Lower Atmosphere ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Model Version ◽  
Shallow Cumulus ◽  
Atmosphere Model

AbstractUsing the 9-yr warm-season observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains site, we assess the land-atmosphere (L-A) coupling in North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) and two climate models: hindcasts with the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.1 by Cloud-Associated Parameterizations Testbed (CAM5-CAPT) and nudged runs with the Energy Exascale Earth System Model Atmosphere Model version 1 Regionally Refined Model (EAMv1-RRM). We focus on three local convective regimes and diagnose model behaviors using the Local Coupling metrics (Santanello et al. 2018). NARR agrees well with observations except a slightly warmer and drier surface with higher downwelling shortwave radiation and lower evaporative fraction. On clear-sky days, it shows warmer and drier early-morning conditions in both models with significant underestimates in surface evaporation by EAMv1-RRM. On the majority of the ARM-observed shallow cumulus days, there is no or little low-level clouds in either model. When captured in models, the simulated shallow cumulus shows much less cloud fraction and lower cloud bases than observed. On the days with late-afternoon deep convection, models tend to present a stable early-morning lower atmosphere more frequently than the observations, suggesting that the deep convection is triggered more often by elevated instabilities. Generally, CAM5-CAPT can reproduce the local L-A coupling processes to some extent due to the constrained early-morning conditions and large-scale winds. EAMv1-RRM exhibits large precipitation deficits and warm and dry biases towards mid-to-late summers, which may be an amplification through a positive L-A feedback among initial atmosphere and land states, convection triggering and large-scale circulations.

Effect of Surface Fluxes versus Radiative Heating on Tropical Deep Convection

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 3378-3388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usama Anber ◽  
Shuguang Wang ◽  
Adam Sobel
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Multiple Equilibria ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Tropical Deep Convection ◽  
Gross Moist Stability

Abstract The effects of turbulent surface fluxes and radiative heating on tropical deep convection are compared in a series of idealized cloud-system-resolving simulations with parameterized large-scale dynamics. Two methods of parameterizing the large-scale dynamics are used: the weak temperature gradient (WTG) approximation and the damped gravity wave (DGW) method. Both surface fluxes and radiative heating are specified, with radiative heating taken as constant in the vertical in the troposphere. All simulations are run to statistical equilibrium. In the precipitating equilibria, which result from sufficiently moist initial conditions, an increment in surface fluxes produces more precipitation than an equal increment of column-integrated radiative heating. This is straightforwardly understood in terms of the column-integrated moist static energy budget with constant normalized gross moist stability. Under both large-scale parameterizations, the gross moist stability does in fact remain close to constant over a wide range of forcings, and the small variations that occur are similar for equal increments of surface flux and radiative heating. With completely dry initial conditions, the WTG simulations exhibit hysteresis, maintaining a dry state with no precipitation for a wide range of net energy inputs to the atmospheric column. The same boundary conditions and forcings admit a rainy state also (for moist initial conditions), and thus multiple equilibria exist under WTG. When the net forcing (surface fluxes minus radiative heating) is increased enough that simulations that begin dry eventually develop precipitation, the dry state persists longer after initialization when the surface fluxes are increased than when radiative heating is increased. The DGW method, however, shows no multiple equilibria in any of the simulations.

scholarly journals Can the Impact of Aerosols on Deep Convection be Isolated from Meteorological Effects in Atmospheric Observations?

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3347-3363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cloud Condensation Nuclei ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Moist Convection ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Meteorological Effects

Influence of pollution on dynamics of deep convection continues to be a controversial topic. Arguably, only carefully designed numerical simulations can clearly separate the impact of aerosols from the effects of meteorological factors that affect moist convection. This paper argues that such a separation is virtually impossible using observations because of the insufficient accuracy of atmospheric measurements and the fundamental nature of the interaction between deep convection and its environment. To support this conjecture, results from numerical simulations are presented that apply modeling methodology previously developed by the author. The simulations consider small modifications, difficult to detect in observations, of the initial sounding, surface fluxes, and large-scale forcing tendencies. All these represent variations of meteorological conditions that affect deep convective dynamics independently of aerosols. The setup follows the case of daytime convective development over land based on observations during the Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere (LBA) field project in Amazonia. The simulated observable macroscopic changes of convection, such as the surface precipitation and upper-tropospheric cloudiness, are similar to or larger than those resulting from changes of cloud condensation nuclei from pristine to polluted conditions studied previously using the same modeling case. Observations from Phase III of the Global Atmospheric Research Program Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) are also used to support the argument concerning the impact of the large-scale forcing. The simulations suggest that the aerosol impacts on dynamics of deep convection cannot be isolated from meteorological effects, at least for the daytime development of unorganized deep convection considered in this study.

scholarly journals A 20-Year Climatology of Nocturnal Convection Initiation over the Central and Southern Great Plains during the Warm Season

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (5) ◽  
pp. 1615-1639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan W. Reif ◽  
Howard B. Bluestein
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Thunderstorm Activity ◽  
Surface Boundary ◽  
Initiation Time ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Surface Data ◽  
Convection Initiation ◽  
Storm Characteristics

Abstract A nocturnal maximum in rainfall and thunderstorm activity over the central Great Plains has been widely documented, but the mechanisms for the development of thunderstorms over that region at night are still not well understood. Elevated convection above a surface frontal boundary is one explanation, but this study shows that many thunderstorms form at night without the presence of an elevated frontal inversion or nearby surface boundary. This study documents convection initiation (CI) events at night over the central Great Plains from 1996 to 2015 during the months of April–July. Storm characteristics such as storm type, linear system orientation, initiation time and location, and others were documented. Once all of the cases were documented, surface data were examined to locate any nearby surface boundaries. The event’s initiation location relative to these boundaries (if a boundary existed) was documented. Two main initiation locations relative to a surface boundary were identified: on a surface boundary and on the cold side of a surface boundary; CI events also occur without any nearby surface boundary. There are many differences among the different nocturnal CI modes. For example, there appear to be two main peaks of initiation time at night: one early at night and one later at night. The later peak is likely due to the events that form without a nearby surface boundary. Finally, a case study of three nocturnal CI events that occurred during the Plains Elevated Convection At Night (PECAN) field project when there was no nearby surface boundary is discussed.

Bores Observed during IHOP_2002: The Relationship of Bores to the Nocturnal Environment

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (10) ◽  
pp. 3929-3946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin R. Haghi ◽  
David B. Parsons ◽  
Alan Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Horizontal Wind ◽  
Wave Trapping ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
Low Level Jet ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Scorer Parameter

This study documents atmospheric bores and other convergent boundaries in the southern Great Plains’ nocturnal environment during the IHOP_2002 summer campaign. Observational evidence demonstrates that convective outflows routinely generate bores. Statistically resampled flow regimes, derived from an adaptation of hydraulic theory, agree well with observations. Specifically, convective outflows within the observed environments are likely to produce a partially blocked flow regime, which is a favorable condition for generating a bore. Once a bore develops, the direction of movement generally follows the orientation of the bulk shear vector between the nose of the nocturnal low-level jet and a height of 1.5 or 2.5 km AGL. This relationship is believed to be a consequence of wave trapping through the curvature of the horizontal wind with respect to height. This conclusion comes after analyzing the profile of the Scorer parameter. Overall, these findings provide an impetus for future investigations aimed at understanding and predicting nocturnal deep convection over this region.

Can the Deforestation Breeze Change the Rainfall in Amazonia? A Case Study for the BR-163 Highway Region

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra I. Saad ◽  
Humberto R. da Rocha ◽  
Maria A. F. Silva Dias ◽  
Rafael Rosolem
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
Thermal Cell ◽  
Soil Wetness ◽  
Soil Dryness ◽  
Regional Atmospheric Modeling ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The authors simulated the effects of Amazonian mesoscale deforestation in the boundary layer and in rainfall with the Brazilian Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS) model. They found that both the area and shape (with respect to wind incidence) of deforestation and the soil moisture status contributed to the state of the atmosphere during the time scale of several weeks, with distinguishable patterns of temperature, humidity, and rainfall. Deforestation resulted in the development of a three-dimensional thermal cell, the so-called deforestation breeze, slightly shifted downwind to large-scale circulation. The boundary layer was warmer and drier above 1000-m height and was slightly wetter up to 2000-m height. Soil wetness affected the circulation energetics proportionally to the soil dryness (for soil wetness below ∼0.6). The shape of the deforestation controlled the impact on rainfall. The horizontal strips lined up with the prevailing wind showed a dominant increase in rainfall, significant up to about 60 000 km2. On the other hand, in the patches aligned in the opposite direction (north–south), there was both increase and decrease in precipitation in two distinct regions, as a result of clearly separated upward and downward branches, which caused the precipitation to increase for patches up to 15 000 km2. The authors’ estimates for the size of deforestation impacting the rainfall contributed to fill up the low spatial resolution in other previous studies.

Thinking in multitudes: Questionnaires and composite cases in early American psychology

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 160-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacy L. Young
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Reasoning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Early American ◽  
Large Scale Data ◽  
American Psychology ◽  
Questionnaire Research ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Scale Data

In the late 19th century, the questionnaire was one means of taking the case study into the multitudes. This article engages with Forrester’s idea of thinking in cases as a means of interrogating questionnaire-based research in early American psychology. Questionnaire research was explicitly framed by psychologists as a practice involving both natural historical and statistical forms of scientific reasoning. At the same time, questionnaire projects failed to successfully enact the latter aspiration in terms of synthesizing masses of collected data into a coherent whole. Difficulties in managing the scores of descriptive information questionnaires generated ensured the continuing presence of individuals in the results of this research, as the individual case was excerpted and discussed alongside a cast of others. As a consequence, questionnaire research embodied an amalgam of case, natural historical, and statistical thinking. Ultimately, large-scale data collection undertaken with questionnaires failed in its aim to construct composite exemplars or ‘types’ of particular kinds of individuals; to produce the singular from the multitudes.

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