Transitions of cloud-topped marine boundary layers characterized by AIRS, MODIS, and a large eddy simulation model

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

Volumn 118, Issue 15, 2013, Pages 8598-8611

  Yue, Qing ^a,b   Kahn, Brian H ^a   Xiao, Heng ^c,d   Schreier, Mathias M ^a,b   Fetzer, Eric J ^a   Teixeira, João ^a   Sušelj, Kay ^a,b  

^a CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^b Los Angeles   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^d PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY   (United States)

Author keywords

collocated satellite observation; Large eddy simulation; Marine boundary layer cloud; transition

Indexed keywords

BOUNDARY LAYERS; CLOUDS; COMPUTER SIMULATION; EVAPORATIVE COOLING SYSTEMS; INFRARED DEVICES; INFRARED INSTRUMENTS; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; RADIOMETERS;

ATMOSPHERIC INFRARED SOUNDERS; CLOUD-TOP ENTRAINMENT INSTABILITIES; MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER CLOUDS; MODERATE RESOLUTION IMAGING SPECTRORADIOMETER; SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS; TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS; THEORETICAL AND NUMERICAL MODELING; TRANSITION;

SATELLITE IMAGERY;

AIRS; BOUNDARY LAYER; COOLING; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; MODIS; NUMERICAL MODEL; PIXEL; SATELLITE DATA; STRATOCUMULUS;

PACIFIC OCEAN;

EID: 84884145276     PISSN: None     EISSN: 21698996     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/jgrd.50676     Document Type: Article

References (80)

1. Albrecht, B. A., R. S. Penc, and, W. H. Schubert, (1985), An observational study of cloud-topped mixed layers, J. Atmos. Sci., 42, 800-822.
2. Aumann, H. H., M. T. Chahine, and, D. Barron, (2003a), Sea surface temperature measurements with AIRS: RTG.SST comparison, Proceedings of SPIE, 5151, 252-261.
3. Aumann, H. H., et al. (2003b), AIRS/AMSU/HSB on the aqua mission: Design, science objectives, data products, and processing systems, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, 253-264.
4. Barnes, W. L., T. S. Pagano, and, V. V. Salomonson, (1998), Prelaunch characteristics of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on EOS-AM1, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 36, 1088-1100.
5. Betts, A. K., (1990), Diurnal variation of California coastal stratocumulus from two days of boundary layer soundings, Tellus, 41A, 302-304.
6. Betts, A. K., and, R. Boers, (1990), A cloudiness transition in a marine boundary layer, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 1,480-1,497.
7. Betts, A. K., P. Minnis, W. Ridgway, and, D. F. Young, (1992), Integration of satellite and surface data using an equilibrium radiative-convective boundary layer model, J. Appl. Meteorol., 31, 340-350.
8. Bony, S., and, J. L. 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.
9. Bony, S., et al. (2006), How well do we understand and evaluate climate change feedback processes?, J. Clim., 19, 3445-3482.
10. Bretherton, C. S., and, M. C. Wyant, (1997), Moisture transport, lower tropospheric stability and decoupling of cloud-topped boundary layers, J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 148-167.
11. Carman, J. K., D. L. Rossiter, D. Khelif, H. H. Jonsson, I. C. Faloona, and, P. Y. Chuang, (2012), Observational constraints on entrainment and the entrainment interface layer in stratocumulus, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 12, 817-868, doi: 10.5194/acpd-12-817.
12. Chung, D., and, J. Teixeira, (2012), A simple model for stratocumulus to shallow cumulus cloud transitions, J. Clim., 25 (7), 2547-2554.
13. Chung, D., G. Matheou, and, J. Teixeira, (2012), Steady-state large-eddy simulations to study the stratocumulus to shallow cumulus cloud transition, J. Atmos. Sci., 69, 3,264-3,276.
14. Deardorff, J. W., (1980), Cloud top entrainment instability, J. Atmos. Sci., 37, 131-147.
15. Donlon, C. J., P. J. Minnett, C. Gentemann, T. J. Nightingale, I. J. Barton, B. Ward, and, M. J. Murray, (2002), Toward improved validation of satellite sea surface skin temperature measurements for climate research, J. Clim., 15, 353-369.
16. Duynkerke, P. G., (1993), The stability of cloud top with regard to entrainment: Amendment of the theory of cloud-top entrainment instability, J. Atmos. Sci., 50, 495-502.
17. Duynkerke, P. G., H. Zhang, and, P. J. Jonker, (1995), Microphysical and turbulent structure of nocturnal stratocumulus as observed during ASTEX, J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 2763-2777.
18. Fetzer, E. J., J. Teixeira, E. T. Olsen, and, E. F. Fishbein, (2004), Satellite remote sounding of atmospheric boundary layer temperature inversions over the subtropical eastern Pacific, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L17102, doi: 10.1029/2004GL020174.
19. Fetzer, E. J., B. H. Lambrigtsen, A. Eldering, H. H. Aumann, and, M. T. Chahine, (2006), Biases in total precipitable water vapor climatologies from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D09S16, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006598.
20. Hanson, H. P., (1984a), Stratocumulus instability reconsidered: A search for physical mechanisms, Tellus, 36A, 355-368.
21. Hanson, H. P., (1984b), On mixed-layer modeling of the stratocumulus-topped marine boundary layer, J. Atmos. Sci., 41, 1226-1234.
22. Jones, C. R., C. S. Bretherton, and, D. Leon, (2011), Coupled vs. decoupled boundary layers in VOCALS-REx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 7143-7153.
23. Karlsson, J., G. Svensson, S. Cordoso, J. Teixeira, and, S. Paradise, (2010), Subtropical cloud regime transitions: Boundary layer depth and cloud-top height evolution, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., doi: 10.1175/2010JAMC2338.1.
24. King, M. D., W. P. Menzel, Y. J. Kaufman, D. Tanre, B. C. Gao, S. Platnick, S. A. Ackerman, L. A. Remer, R. Pincus, and, P. A. Hubanks, (2003), Cloud and aerosol properties, precipitable water, and profiles of temperature and water vapor from MODIS, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41 (2), 442-458.
25. Klein, S. A., and, D. L. Hartmann, (1993), The seasonal cycle of low stratiform clouds, J. Clim., 6, 1587-1606.
26. Kotarba, A. Z., (2010), Estimation of fractional cloud cover for Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer/Terra cloud mask classes with high-resolution over ocean ASTER observations, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D22210, doi: 10.1029/2009JD013520.
27. Krueger, S. K., G. T. McLean, and, Q. Fu, (1995), Numerical simulation of the stratus-to-cumulus transition in the subtropical marine boundary layer. Part I: Boundary-layer structure, J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 2,839-2,850.
28. Kuo, H.-C., and, W. H. Schubert, (1988), Stability of cloud-topped boundary layers, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 114, 887-916.
29. Lambrigtsen, B. H., and, S.-Y. Lee, (2003), Coalignment and synchronization of the AIRS instrument suite, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, 343-351.
30. Lawrence, M. G., (2005), The relationship between relative humidity and the dewpoint temperature in moist air: A simple conversion and applications, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 86, 225-233.
31. Lewellen, D. C., and, W. Lewellen, (1998), Large-eddy boundary layer entrainment, J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 2645-2665.
32. Li, J.-L. F., K. Martin, J. D. Farrara, and, C. R. Mechoso, (2002), The impact of stratocumulus cloud radiative properties on surface heat fluxes simulated with a general circulation model, Mon. Weather Rev., 130, 1433-1441.
33. Lilly, D. K., (1968), Models of cloud-topped mixed layers under a strong inversion, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 94, 292-309.
34. Lock, A., (2009), Factors influencing cloud area at the capping inversion for shallow cumulus clouds, Quat. J. R. Meteor. Soc., 135, 941-952.
35. MacVean, M. K., and, P. J. Mason, (1990), Cloud-top entrainment instability through small-scale mixing and its parameterization in numerical models, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 1,012-1,030.
36. Maddy, E. S., and, C. D. Barnet, (2008), Vertical resolution esimates in Version 5 of AIRS operational retrievals, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 46 (8), 2,375-2,384.
37. Martins, J. P. A., J. Teixeira, P. M. M. Soares, P. M. A. Miranda, B. H. Kahn, V. T. Dang, F. W. Irion, E. J. Fetzer, and, E. Fishbein, (2010), Infrared sounding of the trade-wind boundary layer: AIRS and the RICO experiment, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L24806, doi: 10.1029/2010GL045902.
38. Mellado, J. P., (2010), The evaporatively driven cloud-top mixing layer, J. Fluid Mech., 660, 5-36, doi: 10.1017/S0022112010002831.
39. Menzel, W. P., R. Frey, H. Zhang, D. Wylie, C. Moeller, R. Holz, B. Maddux, B. A. Baum, K. Strabala, and, L. Gumley, (2008), MODIS global cloud-top pressure and amount estimation: Algorithm description and results, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 47, 1175-1198.
40. Minnis, P., P. W. Heck, D. F. Young, C. W. Fairall, and, J. B. Snider, (1992), Stratocumulus cloud properties derived from simultaneous satellite and island-based instrumentation during FIRE, J. Appl. Meteorol., 31, 317-339.
41. Moeng, C.-H., (2000), Entrainment rate, cloud fraction, and liquid water path of PBL stratocumulus clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 3627-3643.
42. Norris, J. R., (1998), Low cloud type over the ocean from surface observations. Part I: Relationship to surface meteorology and the vertical distribution of temperature and moisture, J. Clim., 11, 369-382.
43. Paluch, I. R., and, D. H. Lenschow, (1991), Stratiform cloud formation in the marine bound- ary layer, J. Atmos. Sci., 48, 2141-2158.
44. Parkinson, C. L., (2003), Aqua: An earth-observing satellite mission to examine water and other climate variables, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, 173-183.
45. Pawlowska, H., and, J. Brenguier, (2000), Microphysical properties of stratocumulus clouds during ACE-2, Tellus, Ser. B, 52, 868-887.
46. Pincus, R., M. B. Baker, and, C. S. Bretherton, (1997), What controls stratocumulus radiative properties? Lagrangian observations of cloud evolution, J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 2215-2236.
47. Platnick, S., et al. (2003), The MODIS cloud products: Algorithms and examples from Terra, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., 41, 459-473, doi: 10.1109/TGRS.2002.808301.
48. Raga, G. B., J. B. Jensen, and, M. B. Baker, (1990), Characteristics of cumulus band clouds off the coast of Hawaii, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 338-356.
49. Randall, D., (1980), Conditional instability of the first kind upsidedown, J. Atmos. Sci., 37 (1), 125-130.
50. de Roode, S. R., and, P. G. Duynkerke, (1997), Observed Lagrangian transition of stratocumulus into cumulus during ASTEX: Mean state and turbulence structure, J. Atmos. Sci., 54, 2157-2173.
51. Sandu, I., and, B. Stevens, (2011), On factors modulating the stratocumulus to cumulus transition, J. Atmos. Sci., 68, 1865-1881, doi: 10.1175/2011JAS3614.1.
52. Sandu, I., B. Stevens, and, R. Pincus, (2010), On the transitions in marine boundary layer cloudiness, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 2377-2391.
53. Schreier, M. M., B. H. Kahn, A. Eldering, D. A. Elliott, E. Fishbein, F. W. Irion, and, T. S. Pagano, (2010), Radiance comparisons of MODIS and AIRS using spatial response information, J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 27, 1331-1342.
54. Siebesma, A. P., Coauthors (2003), A large eddy simulation intercomparison study of shallow cumulus convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 60, 1201-1219.
55. 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.
56. Slingo, A., (1987), The development and varification of a cloud prediction scheme for the ECMWF model, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 113, 899-927.
57. Slingo, A., (1990), Sensitivity of the earth's radiation budget to changes in low clouds. Nature, 343, 49-51.
58. Stephens, G. L., (2005), Cloud feedbacks in the climate system: A critical review, J. Clim., 18, 237-273.
59. Stevens, B., (2000), Cloud transitions and decoupling in shear-free stratocumulus-topped boundary layers, Geophys. Res. Lett., 27, 2557-2560.
60. Stevens, B., and, C.-H. Moeng, (1999), Large-eddy simulations of radiatively driven convection: Sensitivities to the representation of small scales, J. Atmos. Sci., 56, 3963-3984.
61. Stevens, B., and, A. Seifert, (2008), Understanding macrophysical outcomes of microphysical choices in simulations of shallow cumulus convection, J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan, 86A, 143-162.
62. Stevens, B., et al. (2001), Trade-cumuli under a strong inversion, J. Atmos. Sci., 58, 1870-1891.
63. Stevens, B., et al. (2003), Dynamics and chemistry of marine stratocumulus, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 84, 579-593.
64. Stevens, B., C.-H. Moeng, A. Ackerman, and, C. Bretherton, (2005), Evaluation of large-eddy simulations via observations of Nocturnal Marine stratocumulus, Mon. Weather Rev., 58, 1870-1891.
65. Susskind, J., C. Barnet, J. Blaisdell, L. Iredell, F. Keita, L. Kouvaris, G. Molnar, and, M. Chahine, (2006), Accuracy of geophysical parameters derived from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit as a function of fractional cloud cover, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D09S17, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006272.
66. Teixeira, J., Coauthors (2011), Tropical and subtropical cloud transitions in weather and climate prediction models: The GCSS/WGNE Pacific Cross-Section Intercomparison (GPCI), J. Clim., 24, 5223-5256.
67. Thiébaux, J., E. Rogers, W. Wang, and, B. Katz, (2003), A new high-resolution blended real-time global sea surface temperature analysis, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 84 (5), 645-656.
68. Wielicki, B. A., and, L. Parker, (1992), On the determination of cloud cover from satellite sensors: The effect of sensor spatial resolution, J. Geophys. Res., 97, 0148-0227, doi: 10.1029/92JD01061.
69. Wood, R., (2005), Drizzle in stratiform boundary layer clouds. Part I: Vertical and horizontal structure, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 3011-3033.
70. Wood, R., (2012), Stratocumulus clouds, Mon. Weather Rev., 140, 2373-2423.
71. Wood, R., and, C. S. Bretherton, (2004), Boundary layer depth, entrainment and decoupling in the cloud-capped subtropical and tropical marine boundary layer, J. Clim., 17, 3576-3588.
72. Wood, R., and, D. L. Hartmann, (2006), Spatial variability of liquid water path in marine low cloud: The importance of mesoscale cellular convection, J. Clim., 19, 1748-1764.
73. 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.
74. Xiao, H., C.-M. Wu, and, C. R. Mechoso, (2010), Buoyancy reversal, decoupling and the transition from stratocumulus to shallow cumulus topped marine boundary layers, Clim. Dynam., 37, 971-984, doi: 10.1007/s00382-010-0882- 3.
75. 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.
76. Yue, Q., B. H. Kahn, E. J. Fetzer, and, J. Teixeira, (2011), Relationship between oceanic boundary layer clouds and lower tropospheric stability observed by AIRS, CloudSat, and CALIOP, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D18212, doi: 10.1029/2011JD016136.
77. Zhao, G., and, L. Di Girolamo, (2006), Cloud fraction errors for trade wind cumuli from EOS-Terra instruments, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L20802, doi: 10.1029/2006GL027088.
78. Zhu, P., J. J. Hack, J. T. Kiehl, and, C. S. Bretherton, (2007), Climate sensitivity of tropical and subtropical marine low cloud amount to ENSO and global warming due to doubled CO2, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D17108, doi: 10.1029/2006JD008174.
79. Zuidema, P., E. R. Westwater, C. Fairall, and, D. Hazen, (2005), Ship-based liquid water path estimates in marine stratocumulus. J. Geophys. Res., 110, D20206, doi: 10.1029/2005JD005833.
80. Zuidema, P., Z. Li, R. J. Hill, L. Bariteau, B. Rilling, C. Fairall, W. A. Brewer, B. Albrecht, and, J. Hare, (2012), On trade wind cumulus cold pools, J. Atmos. Sci., 69 (1), 258-280.