How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?

Zhuang, Yizhou; Fu, Rong; Wang, Hongqing

doi:10.1175/JAS-D-17-0284.1

Title: How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?

Abstract

Abstract We developed an entraining parcel approach that partitions parcel buoyancy into contributions from different processes (e.g., adiabatic cooling, condensation, freezing, and entrainment). Applying this method to research-quality radiosonde profiles provided by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program at six sites, we evaluated how atmospheric thermodynamic conditions and entrainment influence various physical processes that determine the vertical buoyancy structure across different climate regimes as represented by these sites. The differences of morning buoyancy profiles between the deep convection (DC)/transition cases and shallow convection (SC)/nontransition cases were used to assess preconditions important for shallow-to-deep convection transition. Our results show that for continental sites such as the U.S. Southern Great Plains (SGP) and west-central Africa, surface conditions alone are enough to account for the buoyancy difference between DC and SC cases, although entrainment further enhances the buoyancy difference at SGP. For oceanic sites in the tropical west Pacific, humidity dilution in the lower to middle free troposphere (~1–6 km) and temperature mixing in the middle to upper troposphere (>4 km) have the most important influences on the buoyancy difference between DC and SC cases. For the humid central Amazon region, entrainment in both the boundary layer and the lower free troposphere (~0–4more »« less

Authors:

Zhuang, Yizhou ^[1]; Fu, Rong ^[2]; Wang, Hongqing ^[3]

Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China, and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China

Publication Date:: Wed May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2018

Research Org.:: Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

OSTI Identifier:: 1438519

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1541828

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0011117

Resource Type:: Published Article

Journal Name:: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Journal Volume: 75 Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-4928

Publisher:: American Meteorological Society

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Citation Formats


                    Zhuang, Yizhou, Fu, Rong, and Wang, Hongqing. How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?.  United States: N. p., 2018. 
Web.  doi:10.1175/JAS-D-17-0284.1.

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                    Zhuang, Yizhou, Fu, Rong, & Wang, Hongqing. How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-17-0284.1

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                    Zhuang, Yizhou, Fu, Rong, and Wang, Hongqing. Wed .  
"How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-17-0284.1.

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@article{osti_1438519,

  title        = {How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?},

  author       = {Zhuang, Yizhou and Fu, Rong and Wang, Hongqing},

  abstractNote = {Abstract We developed an entraining parcel approach that partitions parcel buoyancy into contributions from different processes (e.g., adiabatic cooling, condensation, freezing, and entrainment). Applying this method to research-quality radiosonde profiles provided by the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program at six sites, we evaluated how atmospheric thermodynamic conditions and entrainment influence various physical processes that determine the vertical buoyancy structure across different climate regimes as represented by these sites. The differences of morning buoyancy profiles between the deep convection (DC)/transition cases and shallow convection (SC)/nontransition cases were used to assess preconditions important for shallow-to-deep convection transition. Our results show that for continental sites such as the U.S. Southern Great Plains (SGP) and west-central Africa, surface conditions alone are enough to account for the buoyancy difference between DC and SC cases, although entrainment further enhances the buoyancy difference at SGP. For oceanic sites in the tropical west Pacific, humidity dilution in the lower to middle free troposphere (~1–6 km) and temperature mixing in the middle to upper troposphere (>4 km) have the most important influences on the buoyancy difference between DC and SC cases. For the humid central Amazon region, entrainment in both the boundary layer and the lower free troposphere (~0–4 km) have significant contributions to the buoyancy difference; the upper-tropospheric influence seems unimportant. In addition, the integral of the condensation term, which represents the parcel’s ability to transform available water vapor into heat through condensation, provides a better discrimination between DC and SC cases than the integral of buoyancy or the convective available potential energy (CAPE).},

  doi          = {10.1175/JAS-D-17-0284.1},

  journal      = {Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences},

  number       = 6,

  volume       = 75,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2018},

  month        = {Wed May 23 00:00:00 EDT 2018}

}

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Works referencing / citing this record:

Observational Evidence of the Transition from Shallow to Deep Convection in the Western Caribbean Trade Winds
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The role of spring dry zonal advection in summer drought onset over the US Great Plains
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Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 19, Issue 24
DOI: 10.5194/acp-19-15199-2019

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Title: How Do Environmental Conditions Influence Vertical Buoyancy Structure and Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition across Different Climate Regimes?

Abstract

Citation Formats

Observational Evidence of the Transition from Shallow to Deep Convection in the Western Caribbean Trade Winds journal, November 2019

The role of spring dry zonal advection in summer drought onset over the US Great Plains journal, January 2019

Observational Evidence of the Transition from Shallow to Deep Convection in the Western Caribbean Trade Winds
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