Composite structure of plumes in stratus-topped boundary layers
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany)
Knowledge of convective plumes within the clear convective boundary layer (CBL) is quite advanced owing to direct measurements, tank experiments, and large-eddy simulation studies. As a result, modeling of the CBL is relatively successful. Progress for the stratus-topped boundary layer (STBL), however, is slow. This study compares the plume structure of the surface-heated CBL with that of the cloud-top-cooled STBL in the hope of extending knowledge of the CBL to the STBL. A conditional sampling technique is applied to the STBL flow fields that are generated through large-eddy simulations, so that the structures of typical updrafts and downdrafts may be derived. For the purpose of comparing the surface-heated CBL and the cloud-top-cooled STBL, an idealized STBL, the compensating updrafts are nearly as strong as the top-cooling-generated downdrafts, and they contribute a significant amount to the heat, moisture, and momentum transports. This differs very much from the CBL, where the compensating downdrafts are much weaker than the surface-heating-generated updrafts and contribute much less to the transports. The mechanism that results in such an asymmetry between the CBL and STBL is examined, and suggestions on how the asymmetry affects the entrainment process are made. 25 refs., 26 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 5059007
- Journal Information:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States), Vol. 48:20; ISSN 0022-4928
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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