Scaling of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus clouds
Abstract
Drizzle plays a crucial role in cloud lifetime and radiation properties of marine stratocumulus clouds. Understanding where drizzle exists in the sub-cloud layer, which depends on drizzle virga depth, can help us better understand where below-cloud scavenging and evaporative cooling and moisturizing occur. In this study, we examine the statistical properties of drizzle frequency and virga depth of marine stratocumulus based on unique ground-based remote sensing data. Results show that marine stratocumulus clouds are drizzling nearly all the time. In addition, we derive a simple scaling analysis between drizzle virga thickness and cloud thickness. Our analytical expression agrees with the observational data reasonable well, which suggests that our formula provides a simple parameterization for drizzle virga of stratocumulus clouds suitable for use in other models.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
[1]
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
- Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1433941
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-203503-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; AGS-1639868
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 45; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; marine stratocumulus cloud; drizzle; drizzle virga thickness; cloud thickness
Citation Formats
Yang, Fan, Luke, Edward P., Kollias, Pavlos, Kostinski, Alex B., and Vogelmann, Andrew M. Scaling of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus clouds. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1029/2018GL077145.
Yang, Fan, Luke, Edward P., Kollias, Pavlos, Kostinski, Alex B., & Vogelmann, Andrew M. Scaling of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus clouds. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077145
Yang, Fan, Luke, Edward P., Kollias, Pavlos, Kostinski, Alex B., and Vogelmann, Andrew M. Fri .
"Scaling of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus clouds". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077145. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1433941.
@article{osti_1433941,
title = {Scaling of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus clouds},
author = {Yang, Fan and Luke, Edward P. and Kollias, Pavlos and Kostinski, Alex B. and Vogelmann, Andrew M.},
abstractNote = {Drizzle plays a crucial role in cloud lifetime and radiation properties of marine stratocumulus clouds. Understanding where drizzle exists in the sub-cloud layer, which depends on drizzle virga depth, can help us better understand where below-cloud scavenging and evaporative cooling and moisturizing occur. In this study, we examine the statistical properties of drizzle frequency and virga depth of marine stratocumulus based on unique ground-based remote sensing data. Results show that marine stratocumulus clouds are drizzling nearly all the time. In addition, we derive a simple scaling analysis between drizzle virga thickness and cloud thickness. Our analytical expression agrees with the observational data reasonable well, which suggests that our formula provides a simple parameterization for drizzle virga of stratocumulus clouds suitable for use in other models.},
doi = {10.1029/2018GL077145},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 8,
volume = 45,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {4}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 3 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Retrieving Stratocumulus Drizzle Parameters Using Doppler Radar and Lidar
journal, January 2005
- O’Connor, Ewan J.; Hogan, Robin J.; Illingworth, Anthony J.
- Journal of Applied Meteorology, Vol. 44, Issue 1
Is Virga Rain That Evaporates before Reaching the Ground?
journal, August 1992
- Fraser, Alistair B.; Bohren, Craig F.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 120, Issue 8
Drizzle rates versus cloud depths for marine stratocumuli
journal, October 2008
- Kostinski, A. B.
- Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 4
Marine Boundary Layer Cloud Observations in the Azores
journal, November 2012
- Rémillard, Jasmine; Kollias, Pavlos; Luke, Edward
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 21
Numerical simulations of stratocumulus processing of cloud condensation nuclei through collision-coalescence
journal, September 1996
- Feingold, Graham; Kreidenweis, Sonia M.; Stevens, Bjorn
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 101, Issue D16
Marine boundary layer drizzle properties and their impact on cloud property retrieval
journal, January 2015
- Wu, P.; Dong, X.; Xi, B.
- Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 8, Issue 9
A 19-Month Record of Marine Aerosol–Cloud–Radiation Properties Derived from DOE ARM Mobile Facility Deployment at the Azores. Part I: Cloud Fraction and Single-Layered MBL Cloud Properties
journal, May 2014
- Dong, Xiquan; Xi, Baike; Kennedy, Aaron
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 27, Issue 10
Drizzle in Stratiform Boundary Layer Clouds. Part I: Vertical and Horizontal Structure
journal, September 2005
- Wood, R.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 9
Cloud droplets to drizzle: Contribution of transition drops to microphysical and optical properties of marine stratocumulus clouds: Drizzlets in Stratocumulus Clouds
journal, August 2017
- Glienke, S.; Kostinski, A.; Fugal, J.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 15
The evaporation of raindrops
journal, April 1952
- Best, A. C.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 78, Issue 336
Measurement of Stratus Cloud and Drizzle Parameters in ASTEX with a K α -Band Doppler Radar and a Microwave Radiometer
journal, August 1995
- Frisch, A. S.; Fairall, C. W.; Snider, J. B.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 52, Issue 16
Separating Cloud and Drizzle Radar Moments during Precipitation Onset Using Doppler Spectra
journal, August 2013
- Luke, Edward P.; Kollias, Pavlos
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 30, Issue 8
The Impact of Giant Cloud Condensation Nuclei on Drizzle Formation in Stratocumulus: Implications for Cloud Radiative Properties
journal, December 1999
- Feingold, Graham; Cotton, William R.; Kreidenweis, Sonia M.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 56, Issue 24
Parameterization of the Evaporation of Rainfall for Use in General Circulation Models
journal, October 1993
- Feingold, Graham
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 50, Issue 20
Stratocumulus to Cumulus Transition by Drizzle: STRATOCUMULUS TO CUMULUS BY DRIZZLE
journal, October 2017
- Yamaguchi, Takanobu; Feingold, Graham; Kazil, Jan
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 9, Issue 6
Precipitation-generated oscillations in open cellular cloud fields
journal, August 2010
- Feingold, Graham; Koren, Ilan; Wang, Hailong
- Nature, Vol. 466, Issue 7308
Modeling Mesoscale Cellular Structures and Drizzle in Marine Stratocumulus. Part I: Impact of Drizzle on the Formation and Evolution of Open Cells
journal, November 2009
- Wang, Hailong; Feingold, Graham
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 66, Issue 11
Aerosol Effects on Clouds, Precipitation, and the Organization of Shallow Cumulus Convection
journal, February 2008
- Xue, Huiwen; Feingold, Graham; Stevens, Bjorn
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 65, Issue 2
Climatology of drizzle in marine boundary layer clouds based on 1 year of data from CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO)
journal, January 2008
- Leon, David C.; Wang, Zhien; Liu, Dong
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 113
Cloud radar Doppler spectra in drizzling stratiform clouds: 1. Forward modeling and remote sensing applications
journal, January 2011
- Kollias, Pavlos; Rémillard, Jasmine; Luke, Edward
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, Issue D13
Cloud radar Doppler spectra in drizzling stratiform clouds: 2. Observations and microphysical modeling of drizzle evolution
journal, January 2011
- Kollias, Pavlos; Szyrmer, Wanda; Rémillard, Jasmine
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 116, Issue D13
Reflectivity and rain rate in and below drizzling stratocumulus
journal, October 2004
- Comstock, Kimberly K.; Wood, Robert; Yuter, Sandra E.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 130, Issue 603
Effects of environment forcing on marine boundary layer cloud-drizzle processes: MBL Cloud-Drizzle Processes
journal, April 2017
- Wu, Peng; Dong, Xiquan; Xi, Baike
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 122, Issue 8
Influences of drizzle on stratocumulus cloudiness and organization: Influences of Drizzle on Stratocumulus
journal, July 2017
- Zhou, Xiaoli; Heus, Thijs; Kollias, Pavlos
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 122, Issue 13
Works referencing / citing this record:
Midlatitude Oceanic Cloud and Precipitation Properties as Sampled by the ARM Eastern North Atlantic Observatory
journal, April 2019
- Giangrande, Scott E.; Wang, Die; Bartholomew, Mary Jane
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 8
Drizzle and Turbulence Below Closed Cellular Marine Stratocumulus Clouds
journal, June 2019
- Ghate, Virendra P.; Cadeddu, Maria P.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Characterization of shallow oceanic precipitation using profiling and scanning radar observations at the Eastern North Atlantic ARM observatory
journal, January 2019
- Lamer, Katia; Puigdomènech Treserras, Bernat; Zhu, Zeen
- Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 12, Issue 9
A new approach to estimate supersaturation fluctuations in stratocumulus cloud using ground-based remote-sensing measurements
journal, January 2019
- Yang, Fan; McGraw, Robert; Luke, Edward P.
- Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 12, Issue 11