Low-Level Liquid-Bearing Clouds Contribute to Seasonal Lower Atmosphere Stability and Surface Energy Forcing over a High-Mountain Watershed Environment
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Global Monitoring Laboratory
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Air Resources Laboratory
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Physical Sciences Laboratory
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Physical Sciences Laboratory
Measurements of atmospheric structure and surface energy budgets distributed along a high-altitude moun tain watershed environment near Crested Butte, Colorado, from two separate, but coordinated, field campaigns, Surface Atmosphere Integrated field Laboratory (SAIL) and Study of Precipitation, the Lower Atmosphere, and Surface for Hydrometeorology (SPLASH), are analyzed. This study identifies similarities and differences in how clouds influence the radiative budget over one snow-free summer season (2022) and two snow-covered seasons (2021/22; 2022/23) for this alpine location. A relationship between lower-tropospheric stability stratification and longwave radiative flux from the presence or absence of clouds is identified. When low clouds persisted, often with signatures of supercooled liquid in win ter, the lower troposphere experienced weaker stability, while radiatively clear skies that are less likely to be influenced by liquid droplets were associated with appreciably stronger lower-tropospheric stratification. Corresponding surface turbu lent heat fluxes partitioned differently based upon the cloud–stability stratification regime derived from early morning radiosounding profiles. Combined with the differences in the radiative budget largely resulting from dramatic seasonal dif ferences in surface albedo, the lower atmosphere stratification, surface energy budget, and near-surface thermodynamics are shown to be modified by the effective longwave radiative forcing of clouds. The diurnal evolution of thermodynamics and surface energy components varied depending on the early morning stratification state. Thus, the importance of quies cent versus synoptically active large-scale meteorology is hypothesized as a critical forcing for cloud properties and associ ated surface energy budget variations. The physical relationships between clouds, radiation, and stratification can provide a useful suite of metrics for process understanding and to evaluate numerical models in such an undersampled, highly com plex terrain environment.
- 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 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Contributing Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL); Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0024266
- OSTI ID:
- 2371558
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 2376133
OSTI ID: 2376929
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Hydrometeorology, Journal Name: Journal of Hydrometeorology Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 25; ISSN 1525-755X
- Publisher:
- American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English