The role of precipitation and spatial organization in the response of trade-wind clouds to warming

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems

Volumn 8, Issue 2, 2016, Pages 843-862

  Vogel, Raphaela ^a   Nuijens, Louise ^a,b   Stevens, Bjorn ^a  

^a MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR METEOROLOGY   (Germany)

^b MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

Author keywords

cloud feedback; convective organization; large eddy simulation; marine boundary layer clouds

Indexed keywords

BOUNDARY LAYERS; COMMERCE; FEEDBACK; HEAT FLUX; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; WATER CONTENT;

CLOUD FEEDBACKS; LIFTING CONDENSATION LEVELS; LIQUID WATER CONTENT; MARINE BOUNDARY LAYER CLOUDS; MOISTURE-CONVECTION FEEDBACK; SPATIAL ORGANIZATION; SURFACE LATENT HEAT FLUXES; THERMODYNAMIC STRUCTURES;

PRECIPITATION (METEOROLOGY);

ALBEDO; BOUNDARY LAYER; CLIMATE FEEDBACK; CLOUD COVER; CONDENSATION; CONVECTIVE CLOUD; LARGE EDDY SIMULATION; LATENT HEAT FLUX; MARINE ATMOSPHERE; MOISTURE FLUX; PRECIPITATION (CLIMATOLOGY); SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION; TRADE WIND; WARMING;

EID: 84973596894     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19422466     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/2015MS000568     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Albrecht, B. A. (1993), Effects of precipitation on the thermodynamic structure of the trade-wind boundary layer, J. Geophys. Res., 98(D4), 7327–7337, doi:10.1029/93JD00027.
2. Bellon, G., and O. Geoffroy (2016), Stratocumulus radiative effect, multiple equilibria of the well-mixed boundary layer and transition to shallow convection, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., doi:10.1002/qj.2762, in press.
3. Bellon, G., and B. Stevens (2012), Using the sensitivity of large-eddy simulations to evaluate atmospheric boundary layer models, J. Atmos. Sci., 69(5), 1582–1601, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-0160.1.
4. Betts, A. K. (1973), Non-precipitating cumulus convection and its parameterization, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 99(419), 178–196, doi:10.1002/qj.49709941915.
5. Bjerknes, J. (1938), Saturated-adiabatic ascent of air through dry-adiabatically descending environment, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 64, 325–330.
6. Blossey, P. N., C. S. Bretherton, M. Zhang, A. Cheng, S. Endo, T. Heus, Y. Liu, A. P. Lock, S. R. de Roode, and K.-M. Xu (2013), Marine low cloud sensitivity to an idealized climate change: The CGILS LES intercomparison, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 5, 234–258, doi:10.1002/jame.20025.
7. Böing, S. J., H. J. J. Jonker, A. P. Siebesma, and W. W. Grabowski (2012), Influence of the subcloud layer on the development of a deep convective ensemble, J. Atmos. Sci., 69(9), 2682–2698, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-0317.1.
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. Boucher, O., et al. (2013), Clouds and Aerosols, section 7, pp. 571–658, Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U. K., doi:10.1017/CBO9781107415324.016.
10. Bretherton, C. S., and P. N. Blossey (2014), Low cloud reduction in a greenhouse-warmed climate: Results from Lagrangian les of a subtropical marine cloudiness transition, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 6, 91–114, doi:10.1002/2013MS000250.
11. Bretherton, C. S., P. N. Blossey, and M. Khairoutdinov (2005), An energy-balance analysis of deep convective self-aggregation above uniform sst, J. Atmos. Sci., 62(12), 4273–4292, doi:10.1175/JAS3614.1.
12. Bretherton, C. S., P. N. Blossey, and C. R. Jones (2013), Mechanisms of marine low cloud sensitivity to idealized climate perturbations: A single-LES exploration extending the CGILS cases, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 5, 316–337, doi:10.1002/jame.20019.
13. Brient, F., T. Schneider, Z. Tan, S. Bony, X. Qu, and A. Hall (2015), Shallowness of tropical low clouds as a predictor of climate models response to warming, Clim. Dyn., 1–17, doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2846-0.
14. Burdanowitz, J., L. Nuijens, B. Stevens, and C. Klepp (2015), Evaluating light rain from satellite- and ground-based remote sensing data over the subtropical North Atlantic, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 54(3), 556–572, doi:10.1175/JAMC-D-14-0146.1.
15. Emanuel, K., A. A. Wing, and E. M. Vincent (2014), Radiative-convective instability, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 6, 75–90, doi:10.1002/2013MS000270.
16. Fermepin, S., and S. Bony (2014), Influence of low-cloud radiative effects on tropical circulation and precipitation, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 6, 513–526, doi:10.1002/2013MS000288.
17. 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.
18. Holland, J. Z., and E. M. Rasmusson (1973), Measurements of the atmospheric mass, energy, and momentum budgets over a 500-kilometer square of tropical ocean, Mon. Weather Rev., 101(1), 44–57.
19. Jeevanjee, N., and D. M. Romps (2013), Convective self-aggregation, cold pools, and domain size, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 994–998, doi:10.1002/grl.50204.
20. Kuang, Z., and C. S. Bretherton (2006), A mass flux scheme view of a high-resolution simulation of transition from shallow to deep cumulus convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 63, 1895–1909.
21. Li, Z., P. Zuidema, P. Zhu, and H. Morrison (2015), The sensitivity of simulated shallow cumulus convection and cold pools to microphysics, J. Atmos. Sci., 72(9), 3340–3355, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-14-0099.1.
22. Muller, C., and S. Bony (2015), What favors convective aggregation and why?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 5626–5634, doi:10.1002/2015GL064260.
23. Muller, C. J., and I. M. Held (2012), Detailed investigation of the self-aggregation of convection in cloud-resolving simulations, J. Atmos. Sci., 69(8), 2551–2565, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-0257.1.
24. Nuijens, L., and B. Stevens (2012), The influence of wind speed on shallow marine cumulus convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 69(1), 168–184, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-02.1.
25. Nuijens, L., B. Stevens, and A. P. Siebesma (2009), The environment of precipitating shallow cumulus convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 66, 1962–1979.
26. Nuijens, L., B. Medeiros, I. Sandu, and M. Ahlgrimm (2015), The behavior of trade-wind cloudiness in observations and models: The major cloud components and their variability, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 7, 600–616, doi:10.1002/2014MS000390.
27. Pincus, R., and B. Stevens (2009), Monte Carlo spectral integration: A consistent approximation for radiative transfer in large eddy simulations, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 1,1, doi:10.3894/JAMES.2009.1.1.
28. Randall, D. A. (2012), Why are cumulus updrafts narrow?. [Available at http://kiwi.atmos.colostate.edu/group/dave/at745/Cumulus_Updrafts_Narrow.pdf, accessed on 21 Sep.2015]
29. Rauber, R. M., et al. (2007), Rain in shallow cumulus over the ocean: The RICO campaign, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 88(12), 1912–1928, doi:10.1175/BAMS-88-12-1912.
30. Rieck, M., L. Nuijens, and B. Stevens (2012), Marine boundary layer cloud feedbacks in a constant relative humidity atmosphere, J. Atmos. Sci., 69(8), 2538–2550, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-0203.1.
31. Savic-Jovcic, V., and B. Stevens (2008), The structure and mesoscale organization of precipitating stratocumulus, J. Atmos. Sci., 65(5), 1587–1605, doi:10.1175/2007JAS2456.1.
32. Schlemmer, L., and C. Hohenegger (2014), The Formation of Wider and Deeper Clouds as a Result of Cold-Pool Dynamics, J. Atmos. Sci., 71(8), 2842–2858, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-13-0170.1.
33. Seifert, A., and K. D. Beheng (2001), A double-moment parameterization for simulating autoconversion, accretion and self-collection, Atmos. Res., 59–60, 265–281.
34. Seifert, A., and T. Heus (2013), Large-eddy simulation of organized precipitating trade-wind cumulus clouds, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13(11), 5631–5645, doi:10.5194/acp-13-5631-2013.
35. Seifert, A., T. Heus, R. Pincus, and B. Stevens (2015), Large-eddy simulation of the transient and near-equilibrium behavior of precipitating shallow convection, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 7, 1918–1937, doi:10.1002/2015MS000489.
36. Sherwood, S. C., S. Bony, and J.-L. Dufresne (2014), Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing, Nature, 505(7481), 37–42, doi:10.1038/nature12829.
37. Short, D. A., and K. Nakamura (2000), TRMM radar observations of shallow precipitation over the tropical oceans, J. Clim., 13(23), 4107–4124, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<4107:TROOSP>2.0.CO;2.
38. Siebert, H., et al. (2013), The fine-scale structure of the trade-wind cumuli over Barbados—an introduction to the CARRIBA project, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13(19), 10,061–10,077, doi:10.5194/acp-13-10061-2013.
39. Snodgrass, E. R., L. Di Girolamo, and R. M. Rauber (2009), Precipitation characteristics of trade-wind clouds during RICO derived from radar, satellite, and aircraft measurements, J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., 48, 464–483.
40. Stevens, B. (2007), On the growth of layers of nonprecipitating cumulus convection, J. Atmos. Sci., 64(8), 2916–2931, doi:10.1175/JAS3983.1.
41. Stevens, B., and A. Seifert (2008), Understanding macrophysical outcomes of microphysical choices in simulations of shallow cumulus convection, J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn, 86A, 143–162, doi:10.2151/jmsj.86A.143.
42. Stevens, B., et al. (2005), Evaluation of large-eddy simulations via observations of nocturnal marine stratocumulus, Mon. Weather Rev., 133(6), 1443–1462, doi:10.1175/MWR2930.1.
43. Stevens, B., et al. (2016), The Barbados cloud observatory: Anchoring investigations of clouds and circulation on the edge of the ITCZ, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00247.1, in press.
44. Tiedtke, M. (1989), A comprehensive mass flux scheme for cumulus parameterization in large-scale models, Mon. Weather Rev., 117, 1779–1800.
45. VanZanten, M. C., et al. (2011), Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade-wind cumulus as observed during RICO, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 3, M06001, doi:10.1029/2011MS000056.
46. Vial, J., J. L. Dufresne, and S. Bony (2013), On the interpretation of inter-model spread in CMIP5 climate sensitivity estimates, Clim. Dyn., 3339–3362, doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1725-9.
47. Yanai, M., S. Esbensen, and J.-H. Chu (1973), Determination of bulk properties of tropical cloud clusters from large-scale heat and moisture budgets, J. Atmos. Sci., 30, 611–627.
48. Zhang, Y., B. Stevens, and M. Ghil (2005), On the diurnal cycle and susceptibility to aerosol concentration in a stratocumulus-topped mixed layer, Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc., 131(608), 1567–1583, doi:10.1256/qj.04.103.
49. Zhao, M. (2014), An investigation of the connections among convection, clouds, and climate sensitivity in a global climate model, J. Clim., 27(5), 1845–1862, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00145.1.
50. 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, doi:10.1175/JAS-D-11-0143.1.