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Contrasting Scale Dependence of Entrainment-Mixing Mechanisms in Stratocumulus Clouds

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL086970· OSTI ID:1615591
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1]
  1. Nanjing Univ. of Information Science and Technology (China)
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
The apparent turbulent entrainment-mixing mechanism between clouds and surrounding air is scale-dependent; however, such scale dependence has been rarely studied, hindering development of scale-aware entrainment-mixing parameterizations. Here we extend our previous study on cumulus clouds to investigate scale dependence of entrainment-mixing processes in stratocumulus clouds during ACE-ENA and RACORO. In contrast to previous studies, two opposite scale dependencies are found: entrainment-mixing can become more homogeneous or more inhomogeneous with increasing averaging scales, which is quantified by the difference between homogeneous mixing degree at the 100 m and 10 m resolutions. A new heuristic model and two new quantities are introduced. The observations and model show that microphysical properties near and far away from droplet-free air and relative humidity of entrained air determine both the sign and strength of scale dependence, while droplet-free air fraction only affects the strength. Finally, the results shed new light on developing scale-aware parameterizations of entrainment-mixing mechanisms.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC); Natural Science Foundatin of Jiangsu Province; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1615591
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1617762
OSTI ID: 1638032
Report Number(s):
BNL--213846-2020-JAAM
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 47; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
cloud microphysics
entrainment-mixing mechanisms
scale dependence
stratocumulus clouds