The Turbulent Structure of the Arctic Summer Boundary Layer During The Arctic Summer Cloud‐Ocean Study
Abstract
Abstract The mostly ice covered Arctic Ocean is dominated by low‐level liquid‐ or mixed‐phase clouds. Turbulence within stratocumulus is primarily driven by cloud top cooling that induces convective instability. Using a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments we characterize turbulent mixing in Arctic stratocumulus, and for the first time we estimate profiles of the gradient Richardson number at relatively high resolution in both time (10 min) and altitude (10 m). It is found that the mixing occurs both within the cloud, as expected, and by wind shear instability near the surface. About 75% of the time these two layers are separated by a stably stratified inversion at 100–200 m altitude. Exceptions are associated with low cloud bases that allow the cloud‐driven turbulence to reach the surface. The results imply that turbulent coupling between the surface and the cloud is sporadic or intermittent.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[3];
[5];
- School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds Leeds UK
- Department of Meteorology and the Bert Bolin Centre for Climate Research Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science University of Colorado Boulder Boulder CO USA, NOAA‐ESRL Boulder CO USA
- CNRM‐GAME (Météo‐France and CNRS) Toulouse France
- Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Hamburg Germany
- Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute Norrköping Sweden
- School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds Leeds UK, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Earth and Environment University of Leeds Leeds UK
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1395400
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1395401; OSTI ID: 1466742
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐SC0007005; DE‐SC0011918; SC0007005; SC0011918
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Volume: 122 Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Arctic; boundary layer; turbulence; remote sensing; clouds
Citation Formats
Brooks, Ian M., Tjernström, Michael, Persson, P. Ola G., Shupe, Matthew D., Atkinson, Rebecca A., Canut, Guylaine, Birch, Cathryn E., Mauritsen, Thorsten, Sedlar, Joseph, and Brooks, Barbara J. The Turbulent Structure of the Arctic Summer Boundary Layer During The Arctic Summer Cloud‐Ocean Study. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1002/2017JD027234.
Brooks, Ian M., Tjernström, Michael, Persson, P. Ola G., Shupe, Matthew D., Atkinson, Rebecca A., Canut, Guylaine, Birch, Cathryn E., Mauritsen, Thorsten, Sedlar, Joseph, & Brooks, Barbara J. The Turbulent Structure of the Arctic Summer Boundary Layer During The Arctic Summer Cloud‐Ocean Study. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027234
Brooks, Ian M., Tjernström, Michael, Persson, P. Ola G., Shupe, Matthew D., Atkinson, Rebecca A., Canut, Guylaine, Birch, Cathryn E., Mauritsen, Thorsten, Sedlar, Joseph, and Brooks, Barbara J. Wed .
"The Turbulent Structure of the Arctic Summer Boundary Layer During The Arctic Summer Cloud‐Ocean Study". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027234.
@article{osti_1395400,
title = {The Turbulent Structure of the Arctic Summer Boundary Layer During The Arctic Summer Cloud‐Ocean Study},
author = {Brooks, Ian M. and Tjernström, Michael and Persson, P. Ola G. and Shupe, Matthew D. and Atkinson, Rebecca A. and Canut, Guylaine and Birch, Cathryn E. and Mauritsen, Thorsten and Sedlar, Joseph and Brooks, Barbara J.},
abstractNote = {Abstract The mostly ice covered Arctic Ocean is dominated by low‐level liquid‐ or mixed‐phase clouds. Turbulence within stratocumulus is primarily driven by cloud top cooling that induces convective instability. Using a suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments we characterize turbulent mixing in Arctic stratocumulus, and for the first time we estimate profiles of the gradient Richardson number at relatively high resolution in both time (10 min) and altitude (10 m). It is found that the mixing occurs both within the cloud, as expected, and by wind shear instability near the surface. About 75% of the time these two layers are separated by a stably stratified inversion at 100–200 m altitude. Exceptions are associated with low cloud bases that allow the cloud‐driven turbulence to reach the surface. The results imply that turbulent coupling between the surface and the cloud is sporadic or intermittent.},
doi = {10.1002/2017JD027234},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 18,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Wed Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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