Organization of tropical convection in low vertical wind shears: The role of water vapor

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Volumn 58, Issue 6, 2001, Pages 529-545

  Tompkins, Adrian M ^a,b  

^a MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR METEOROLOGY   (Germany)

^b EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR MEDIUM RANGE WEATHER FORECASTS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BOUNDARY LAYERS; HEAT CONVECTION; HEAT FLUX; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; TROPOSPHERE; WIND;

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE (SST) GRADIENTS; TROPICAL CONVECTIONS;

ATMOSPHERIC TURBULENCE;

CONVECTIVE SYSTEM; FEEDBACK MECHANISM; SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE; THERMODYNAMICS; TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT; WATER VAPOR; WIND SHEAR;

EID: 0035868028     PISSN: 00224928     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/1520-0469(2001)058<0529:OOTCIL>2.0.CO;2     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Anthes, R. A., 1977: A cumulus parameterization scheme utilizing a one-dimensional cloud model. Mon. Wea. Rev., 105, 270-286.
2. Arking, A., and D. Ziskin, 1994: Relationship between clouds and sea surface temperature in the western tropical pacific. J. Climate. 7, 988-1000.
3. Bergman, J. W., and H. H. Hendon, 2000: The impact of clouds on the seasonal cycle of radiative heating over the Pacific. J. Armos. Sci., 57, 545-566.
4. Bony, S., K.-M. Lau, and Y. C. Sud, 1997: Sea surface temperature and large-scale circulation influences on tropical greenhouse effect and cloud radiative forcing. J. Climate, 10, 2055-2076.
5. Bretherton, C. S., and P. K. Smolarkiewicz, 1989: Gravity waves, compensating subsidence and detrainment around cumulus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 46, 740-759.
6. Brown, P. R. A., and H. A. Swann, 1997: Evaluation of key microphysical parameters in three dimensional cloud model simulations using aircraft and multiparameter radar data. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 123, 2245-2275.
7. Brown, R. G., and C. Zhang, 1997: Variability of midtropospheric moisture and its effect on cloud-top height distribution during TOGA COARE. J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 2760-2774.
8. Chaboureau, J. P., A. Chedin, and N. A. Scott, 1998: Relationship between sea surface temperature, vertical dynamics, and the vertical distribution of atmospheric water vapor inferred from TOVS observations. J. Geophys. Res., 103, 23 173-23 180.
9. Emanuel, K. A., 1987: An air-sea interaction model of intraseasonal oscillations in the Tropics. J. Atmos. Sci., 44, 2324-2340.
10. _. 1991: A scheme for representing cumulus convection in largescale models. J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 2313-2335.
11. _. 1994: Atmospheric Convection. Oxford University Press, 580 pp.
12. _. 1995: The behavior of a simple hurricane model using a convective scheme based on subcloud-layer entropy equilibrium. J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 3960-3968.
13. _, J. D. Neelin, and C. S. Bretherton, 1994: On large-scale circulations in convecting atmospheres. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 120, 1111-1143.
14. Esbensen, S., 1978: Bulk thermodynamic effects and properties of small tropical cumuli. J. Atmos. Sci., 35, 826-831.
15. Fovell, R. G., and P. H. Tan, 1998: The temporal behavior of numerically simulated multicell-type storms. Part II: The convective cell life cycle and cell regeneration. Mon. Wea. Rev., 126, 551-577.
16. Gilmore, M. S., and L. J. Wicker, 1998: The influence of midtropospheric dryness on supercell morphology and evolution. Mon. Wea. Rev., 126, 943-958.
17. Grabowski, W. W., J.-I. Yano, and M. W. Moncrieff, 2000: Cloud resolving modeling of tropical circulations driven by large-scale SST gradients. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 2022-2039.
18. Graham, N. E., and T. P. Barnett, 1987: Sea surface temperature, surface wind divergence, and convection over the tropical oceans. Science, 238, 657-659.
19. Held, I. M., R. S. Hemler, and V. Ramaswamy, 1993: Radiative-convective equilibrium with explicit two-dimensional moist convection. J. Atmos. Sci., 50, 3909-3927.
20. Johnson, R. H., 1978: Cumulus transports in a tropical wave composite for phase-III of GATE. J. Atmos. Sci., 35, 484-494.
21. Lau, K.-M., and C. H. Sui, 1997: Mechanisms of short-term sea surface temperature regulation: Observations during TOGA COARE. J. Climate, 10, 465-472.
22. _, _, M. D. Chou, and W. K. Tao, 1994: An inquiry into the cirrus-cloud thermostat effect for tropical sea-surface temperature. Geophys. Res. Lett., 21, 1157-1160.
23. _, H.-T. Wu, and S. Bony, 1997: The role of large-scale atmospheric circulation in the relationship between tropical convection and sea surface temperature. J. Climate, 10, 381-392.
24. LeMone, M. A., E. J. Zipser, and S. B. Trier, 1998: The role of environmental shear and thermodynamic conditions in determining the structure and evolution of mesoscale convective systems during TOGA COARE. J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 3493-3518.
25. Liao, X., and D. Rind, 1997: Local upper tropospheric/lower stratospheric clear-sky water vapor and tropospheric deep convection. J. Geophys. Res., 102, 19543-19557.
26. Mapes, B. E., 1997: Equilibrium vs activation control of large-scale variations of tropical deep convection. The Physics and Parameterization of Atmospheric Convection, R. K. Smith, Ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, 321-358.
27. _, 2000: Convective inhibition, subgridscale triggering energy, and stratiform instability in a toy tropical wave model. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 1515-1535.
28. _. and R. A. Houze Jr., 1992: An integrated view of the 1987 Australian monsoon and its mesoscale convective systems. Part I: Horizontal structure. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 118, 927-963.
29. _, and P. Zuidema, 1996: Radiative-dynamical consequences of dry tongues in the tropical troposphere. J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 620-638.
30. McBride, J. L., and W. M. Frank, 1999: Relationships between stability and monsoon convection. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 24-36.
31. Michaud, L. M., 1998: Entrainment and detrainment required to explain updraft properties and work dissipation. Tellus, 50A, 283-301.
32. Moncrieff, M. W., and E. Klinker, 1997: Organized convective systems in the tropical western Pacific as a process in general circulation models: A TOGA COARE case-study. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 123, 805-827.
33. Nicholls, S., and M. A. Lemone, 1980: The fair weather boundary-layer in gate - The relationship of sub-cloud fluxes and structure to the distribution and enhancement of cumulus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 2051-2067.
34. Numaguti, A., R. Oki, K. Nakamura, K. T. N. Misawa, T. Asai, and Y. M. Kodama, 1995: 4-5 day-period variation and low-level dry air observed in the equatorial western Pacific during the TOGA-COARE IOP. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 73, 267-290.
35. Parsons, D. B., K. Yoneyama, and J.-L. Redelsperger, 2000: The evolution of the tropical western Pacific atmosphere-ocean system following the arrival of a dry intrusion. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 126, 517-548.
36. Raymond, D. J., 1995: Regulation of moist convection over the west Pacific warm pool. J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 3945-3959.
37. _, 2000a: The Hadley circulation as a radiative-convective instability. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 1286-1297.
38. _, 2000b: The thermodynamic control of tropical rainfall. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 126, 889-898.
39. Rickenbach, T. M., and S. A. Rutledge, 1998: Convection in TOGA-COARE: Horizontal scale, morphology, and rainfall production. J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 2715-2729.
40. Rotunno, R., J. B. Klemp, and M. L. Weisman, 1988: A theory for long-lived squall lines. J. Atmos. Sci., 45, 463-485.
41. Sherwood, S. C., 1999: On moistening of the tropical troposphere by cirrus clouds. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 11 949-11 960.
42. Simpson, J., 1980: Downdrafts as linkages in dynamic cumulus seeding effects. J. Appl. Meteor., 19, 477-487.
43. Su, H., C. S. Bretherton, and S. S. Chen, 2000: Self-aggregation and large-scale control of tropical deep convection: A modeling study. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 1797-1816.
44. Thorpe, A. J., M. J. Miller, and M. W. Moncrieff, 1982: Two-dimensional convection in non-constant shear: A model of midlatitude squall lines. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 108, 739-762.
45. Tompkins, A. M., 2000: The impact of dimensionality on long-term cloud resolving model simulations. Mon. Wea. Rev., 128, 1521-1535.
46. _, 2001a: On the relationship between tropical convection and sea surface temperature. J. Climate, 14, 633-637.
47. _, 2001b: The organization of tropical convection in low vertical wind shears: The role of cold pools. J. Atmos. Sci., in press.
48. _, and G. C. Craig, 1998a: Radiative-convective equilibrium in a three-dimensional cloud ensemble model. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 124, 2073-2097.
49. _, and _, 1998b: Timescales of adjustment to radiative-convective equilibrium in the tropical atmosphere. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 124, 2693-2713.
50. _, and _, 1999: Sensitivity of tropical convection to sea surface temperature in the absence of large-scale flow. J. Climate. 12, 462-476.
51. _, and K. A. Emanuel. 2000 The vertical resolution sensitivity of simulated equilibrium temperature and water vapour profiles. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 126, 1219-1238.
52. Udelhofen, P. M., and D. L. Hartmann, 1995: Influence of tropical cloud systems on the relative-humidity in the upper troposphere. J. Geophys. Res., 100, 7423-7440.
53. Waliser, D. E., 1996: Formation and limiting mechanisms for very high sea surface temperature: Linking the dynamics and the thermodynamics. J. Climate, 9, 161-188.
54. Webster, P. J., 1994: The role of hydrological processes in oceanatmosphere interactions. Rev. Geophys., 32, 427-476.
55. Yoneyama, K., and T Fujitani, 1995: The behavior of dry westerly air associated with convection observed during the TOGA-COARE R/V Natsushima cruise. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 73, 291-304.
56. _, and D. B. Parsons, 1999: A proposed mechanism for the intrusion of dry air into the tropical western Pacific region. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 1524-1546.
57. Zhang, C., 1993: Large-scale variability of atmospheric deep convection in relation to sea surface temperature in the Tropics. J. Climate, 6, 1898-1913.