Large-Eddy simulation of post-cold-frontal continental stratocumulus

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Volumn 67, Issue 12, 2010, Pages 3835-3853

  Mechem, David B ^a   Kogan, Yefim L ^b   Schultz, David M ^c,d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI   (Finland)

^d UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Advection; Boundary layer; Clouds; Moisture moisture budget; Shear structure flows; Stratiform clouds

Indexed keywords

ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION MEASUREMENT PROGRAMS; BAROCLINIC; BUOYANCY FLUXES; CLIMATE RESEARCH; CLOUD RADAR; CLOUD SYSTEMS; DEEP LAYER; EULERIAN APPROACH; FORCING TERMS; GROUND BASED SENSORS; HIGHLY SENSITIVE; MARINE ENVIRONMENT; MARINE STRATOCUMULUS; MESOSCALE; MODEL ESTIMATES; MODEL RESULTS; MOISTURE/MOISTURE BUDGET; NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION; OKLAHOMA; RAPID UPDATE CYCLE MODELS; SCALINGS; SHEAR PRODUCTION; SHEAR STRUCTURE/FLOWS; STRATIFORM CLOUDS; STRATOCUMULUS CLOUDS; STRATOCUMULUS-TOPPED BOUNDARY LAYERS; SUBGRID SCALE; SURFACE FLUX; TURBULENT KINETIC ENERGY; TURBULENT STATISTICS; VERTICAL MOTIONS; VERTICAL VELOCITY;

ADVECTION; AIR ENTRAINMENT; ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER; ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION; ATMOSPHERIC THERMODYNAMICS; ATMOSPHERICS; BUDGET CONTROL; CLIMATE MODELS; COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS; KINETIC ENERGY; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; MARINE ENGINEERING; MOISTURE; TURBULENT FLOW;

CLOUDS;

ADVECTION; ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE; BOUNDARY LAYER; COLD FRONT; ENTRAINMENT; KINETIC ENERGY; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; STRATIFORM CLOUD; STRATOCUMULUS; SYNOPTIC METEOROLOGY; TURBULENCE;

EID: 78651090259     PISSN: 00224928     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/2010JAS3467.1     Document Type: Article

References (67)

1. Ackerman, A. S., M. P. Kirkpatric, D. E. Stevens, and O. B. Toon, 2004: The impact of humidity above stratiform clouds on indirect aerosol climate forcing. Nature, 432, 1014-1017.
2. Ackerman, A. S, and Coauthors, 2009: Large-eddy simulations of a drizzling, stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer. Mon. Wea. Rev., 137, 1083-1110.
3. Benjamin, S. G., and Coauthors, 2004a: An hourly assimilation-forecast cycle: The RUC. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 495-518.
4. Benjamin, S. G, G. A. Grell, J. M. Brown, T. G. Smirnova, and R. Bleck, 2004b: Mesoscale weather prediction with the RUC hybrid isentropic-terrain-following coordinate model. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 473-494.
5. Bony, S., and J. Dufresne, 2005: Marine boundary layer clouds at the heart of tropical cloud feedback uncertainties in climate models. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L20806, doi:10.1029/2005GL023851.
6. Bretherton, C. S., and Coauthors, 1999: An intercomparison of radiatively driven entrainment and turbulence in a smoke cloud, as simulated by different numerical models. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 125, 391-423.
7. Bretherton, C. S, P. N. Blossey, and J. Uchida, 2007: Cloud droplet sedimentation, entrainment efficiency, and subtropical stratocumulus albedo. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L03813, doi:10.1029/2006GL027648.
8. Brost, R. A., D. H. Lenschow, and J. C. Wyngaard, 1982: Marine stratocumulus layers. Part I: Mean conditions. J. Atmos. Sci., 39, 800-817.
9. Brown, A. R., and Coauthors, 2002: Large-eddy simulation of the diurnal cycle of shallow cumulus convection over land. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 128, 1075-1093.
10. Caldwell, P., and C. S. Bretherton, 2009: Large-eddy simulation of the diurnal cycle in southeast Pacific stratocumulus. J. Atmos. Sci., 66, 432-449.
11. Charlson, R. J., J. E. Lovelock, M. O. Andreae, and S. G. Warren, 1987: Oceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate. Nature, 326, 655-661.
12. Chlond, A., and A. Wolkau, 2000: Large-eddy simulation of a nocturnal stratocumulus-topped marine atmospheric boundary layer: An uncertainty analysis. Bound.-Layer Meteor., 95, 31-55.
13. Chlond, A, F. Müller, and I. Sednev, 2004: Numerical simulation of the diurnal cycle of marine stratocumulus during FIRE-An LES and SCM modeling study. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 130, 3297-3321.
14. Conzemius, R. J., and E. Fedorovich, 2006: Dynamics of sheared convective boundary layer entrainment. Part II: Evaluation of bulk model predictions of entrainment flux. J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 1179-1199.
15. Deardorff, J. W., 1976: On the entrainment rate of a stratocumulus-topped mixed layer. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 102, 563-582.
16. Deardorff, J. W, 1980a: Cloud top entrainment instability. J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 131-147.
17. Deardorff, J. W, 1980b: Stratocumulus-capped mixed layers derived from a three-dimensional model. Bound.-Layer Meteor., 18, 495-527.
18. Field, P. R., and R. Wood, 2007: Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones. J. Climate, 20, 233-254; Corrigendum, 20, 5208.
19. Fu, Q., and K. N. Liou, 1992: On the correlated k-distribution method for radiative transfer in nonhomogeneous atmospheres. J. Atmos. Sci., 49, 2139-2156.
20. Fu, Q, and K. N. Liou, 1993: Parameterization of the radiative properties of cirrus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 50, 2008-2025.
21. Gerber, H., G. Frick, S. P. Malinowski, J.-L. Brenguier, and F. Burnet, 2005: Holes and entrainment in stratocumulus. J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 443-459.
22. Herman, G., and R. Goody, 1976: Formation and persistence of summertime arctic stratus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 33, 1537-1553.
23. James, D. G., 1959: Observations from aircraft of temperatures and humidities near stratocumulus clouds. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 85, 120-130.
24. Khairoutdinov, M. F., and Y. L. Kogan, 1999: A large-eddy simulation model with explicit microphysics: Validation against aircraft observations of a stratocumulus-topped boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 2115-2131.
25. Khairoutdinov, M. F, and D. A. Randall, 2003: Cloud resolving modeling of the ARM summer 1997 IOP: Model formulation, results, uncertainties, and sensitivities. J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 607-625.
26. Kim, B.-G., S. A. Klein, and J. R. Norris, 2005: Continental liquid water cloud variability and its parameterization using Atmospheric Radiation Measurement data. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D15S08, doi:10.1029/2004JD005122.
27. Kollias, P., and B. Albrecht, 2000: The turbulence structure in a continental stratocumulus cloud from millimeter-wavelength radar observations. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 2417-2434.
28. Lazarus, S. M., S. K. Krueger, and G. G. Mace, 2000: A cloud climatology of the Southern Great Plains ARM CART. J. Climate, 13, 1762-1775.
29. Lewellen, D. C., W. S. Lewellen, and S. Yoh, 1996: Influence of Bowen ratio on boundary layer cloud structure. J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 175-187.
30. Lilly, D. K., 1968: Models of cloud-topped mixed layers under a strong inversion. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 94, 292-309.
31. Lock, A. P., 1998: The parametrization of entrainment in cloudy boundary layers. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 124, 2729-2753.
32. Lock, A. P, and M. K. MacVean, 1999: The parametrization of entrainment driven by surface heating and cloud-top cooling. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 125, 271-299.
33. Lorenc, A. C., D. Barker, R. S. Bell, B. Macpherson, and A. J. Maycock, 1996: On the use of radiosonde humidity observations in mid-latitude NWP. Meteor. Atmos. Phys., 60, 3-17.
34. Mechem, D. B., Y. L. Kogan, and D. M. Schultz, 2010: Large-eddy observation of post-cold-frontal continental stratus. J. Atmos. Sci., 67, 3835-3853.
35. Medeiros, B., B. Stevens, I. M. Held, M. Zhao, D. L. Williamson, J. G. Olson, and C. S. Bretherton, 2008: Aquaplanets, climate sensitivity, and low clouds. J. Climate, 21, 4974-4991.
36. Moeng, C.-H., 1986: Large-eddy simulation of a stratus-topped boundary layer. Part I: Structure and budgets. J. Atmos. Sci., 43, 2886-2900.
37. Moeng, C.-H, 2000: Entrainment rate, cloud fraction, and liquid water path of PBL stratocumulus clouds. J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 3627-3643.
38. Moeng, C.-H, and R. Rotunno, 1990: Vertical-velocity skewness in the buoyancy-driven boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 1149-1162.
39. Moeng, C.-H, and P. P. Sullivan, 1994: A comparisonof shear- and buoyancy-driven planetary boundary layer flows. J. Atmos. Sci., 51, 999-1022.
40. Moeng, C.-H, and Coauthors, 1996: Simulation of a stratocumulus-topped planetary boundary layer: Intercomparison among different numerical codes. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 261-278.
41. Moyer, K. A., and G. S. Young, 1991: Observations of vertical velocity skewness within the marine stratocumulus-topped boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 403-410.
42. Neggers, R. A. J., B. Stevens, and J. D. Neelin, 2007: Variance scaling in shallow-cumulus-topped mixed layers. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 133, 1629-1641.
43. Nicholls, S., 1984: The dynamics of stratocumulus: Aircraft observations and comparisons with a mixed layer model. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 110, 783-820.
44. Pino, D., J. Vilá-Guerau de Arellano, and P. G. Duynkerke, 2003: The contribution of shear to the evolution of a convective boundary layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 1913-1926.
45. Randall, D. A., 1980: Conditional instability of the first kind upside-down. J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 125-130.
46. Rossow, W. B., and R. A. Schiffer, 1991: ISCCP cloud data products. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72, 2-20.
47. Siems, S. T., C. S. Bretherton, M. B. Baker, S. S. Shy, and R. E. Breidenthal, 1990: Buoyancy reversal and cloud-top entrainment instability. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 116, 705-739.
48. Smolarkiewicz, P. K., and W. W. Grabowski, 1990: The multidimensional positive definite advection transport algorithm: Nonoscillatory option. J. Comput. Phys., 86, 355-375.
49. Stevens, B., 2000: Cloud transitions and decoupling in shear-free stratocumulus-topped boundary layers. Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2557-2560.
50. Stevens, B, and G. Feingold, 2009: Untangling aerosol effects on clouds and precipitation in a buffered system. Nature, 461, 607-613, doi:10.1038/nature08281.
51. Stevens, B, C.-H. Moeng, and P. P. Sullivan, 1999: Large-eddy simulations of radiatively driven convection: Sensitivities to the representation of small scales. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 3963-3984.
52. Stevens, B, and Coauthors, 2003: On entrainment rates in nocturnal marine stratocumulus. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 129, 3469-3493.
53. Stevens, B, and Coauthors, 2005: Evaluation of large-eddy simulations via observations of nocturnal marine stratocumulus. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 1443-1462.
54. Stull, R. B., 1988: An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology. Kluwer Academic, 666 pp.
55. Tennekes, H., 1973: A model for the dynamics of the inversion above a convective layer. J. Atmos. Sci., 30, 558-567.
56. Tjernström, M., and D. P. Rogers, 1996: Turbulence structure in decoupled marine stratocumulus: A case study from the ASTEX field experiment. J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 598-619.
57. Turner, J. S., 1973: Buoyancy Effects in Fluids. Cambridge University Press, 367 pp.
58. vanZanten, M. C., P. G. Duynkerke, and J. W. M. Cuijpers, 1999: Entrainment parameterization in convective boundary layers. J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 813-838.
59. Warren, S. G., C. J. Hahn, J. London, R. M. Chervi, and R. L. Jenne, 1986: Global distribution of total cloud cover and cloud type amounts over land. NCAR Tech. Note TN-2731STR, 29 pp. + 200 maps. [Available from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307-3000.]
60. Williams, K. D., and M. J. Webb, 2009: A quantitative performance assessment of cloud regimes in climate models. Climate Dyn., 33, 141-157.
61. Wyant, M. C., C. S. Bretherton, H. A. Rand, and D. E. Stevens, 1997: Numerical simulations and a conceptual model of the stratocumulus to trade cumulus transition. J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 168-192.
62. Xie, S., and Coauthors, 2005: Simulations of midlatitude frontal clouds by single-column and cloud-resolving models during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement March 2000 cloud intensive operational period. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D15S03, doi:10.1029/2004JD005119.
63. Xu, K.-M., and Coauthors, 2005: Modeling springtime shallow frontal clouds with cloud-resolving and single-column models. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D15S04, doi:10.1029/2004JD005153.
64. Yamaguchi, T., and D. A. Randall, 2008: Large-eddy simulation of evaporatively driven entrainment in cloud-topped mixed layers. J. Atmos. Sci., 65, 1481-1504.
65. Zhu, P., and B. Albrecht, 2003: Large eddy simulations of continental shallow cumulus convection. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4453, doi:10.1029/2002JD003119.
66. Zhu, P, B. Albrecht, and J. Gottschalck, 2001: Formation and development of nocturnal boundary layer clouds over the southern Great Plains. J. Atmos. Sci., 58, 1409-1426.
67. Zhu, P, and Coauthors, 2005: Intercomparison and interpretation of single-column model simulations of a nocturnal stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 2741-2758.