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Entrainment Makes Pollution More Likely to Weaken Deep Convective Updrafts Than Invigorate Them

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl103314· OSTI ID:1985654
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
  3. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)
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Are the results of aerosol invigoration studies that neglect entrainment valid for diluted deep convective clouds? We address this question by applying an entraining parcel model to soundings from tropical and midlatitude convective environments, wherein pollution is assumed to increase parcel condensate retention. Invigoration of 5%–10% and <2% is possible in undiluted tropical and midlatitude parcels respectively when freezing is rapid. This occurs because the positive buoyancy contribution from freezing is larger than the negative buoyancy contribution from condensate loading, leading to positive net condensate contribution to buoyancy. However, aerosol-induced weakening is more likely when realistic entrainment rates occur because water losses from entrainment more substantially reduce the latent heating relative to the loading contribution. This leads to larger net negative buoyancy contribution from condensates in polluted than in clean entraining parcels. Our results demonstrate that accounting for entrainment is critical in conceptual models of aerosol indirect effects in deep convection.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Data Center
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contributing Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0024635
OSTI ID:
1985654
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 50; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
aerosol indirect effect
buoyancy
deep convection