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Title: Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO

Abstract

In this paper, the relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection on an intraseasonal time scale are examined with data taken during the Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) field campaign. Specifically, column-net, as well as vertical profiles of radiative heating rates, computed over Gan Island in the central Indian Ocean (IO) are used along with an objective analysis of large-scale fields to examine three MJO events that occurred during the 3 month period (October to December 2011) over this region. Longwave (LW) and shortwave radiative heating rates exhibit tilted structures, reflecting radiative effects associated with the prevalence of shallow cumulus during the dry, suppressed MJO phase followed by increasing deep convection leading into the active phase. As the convection builds going into the MJO active phase, there are increasingly top-heavy anomalous radiative heating rates while the column-net radiative cooling rate Qr progressively decreases. Temporal fluctuations in the cloud radiative forcing, being quite sensitive to changes in high cloudiness, are dominated by LW effects with an intraseasonal variation of ~0.4–0.6 K/d. While both the water vapor and cloud fields are inextricably linked, it appears that the tilted radiative structures are more related to water vapor effects. The intraseasonal variation of column-netmore » radiative heating Qr enhances the convective signal in the mean by ~20% with a minimum in this enhancement ~10 days prior to peak MJO rainfall and maximum ~7 days after. Finally, this suggests that as MJO convective envelope weakens over the central IO, cloud-radiative feedbacks help maintain the mature MJO as it moves eastward.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Science
  2. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Joint Inst. for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States); Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) (United States); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1438683
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1377928
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-735094
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-07NA27344; SC0008582; NA15OAR4310177; NNX13AF74G; AGS-1360237
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; radiation; clouds; convection; MJO; DYNAMO

Citation Formats

Ciesielski, Paul E., Johnson, Richard H., Jiang, Xianan, Zhang, Yunyan, and Xie, Shaocheng. Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/2016JD025965.
Ciesielski, Paul E., Johnson, Richard H., Jiang, Xianan, Zhang, Yunyan, & Xie, Shaocheng. Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025965
Ciesielski, Paul E., Johnson, Richard H., Jiang, Xianan, Zhang, Yunyan, and Xie, Shaocheng. Thu . "Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025965. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1438683.
@article{osti_1438683,
title = {Relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection during DYNAMO},
author = {Ciesielski, Paul E. and Johnson, Richard H. and Jiang, Xianan and Zhang, Yunyan and Xie, Shaocheng},
abstractNote = {In this paper, the relationships between radiation, clouds, and convection on an intraseasonal time scale are examined with data taken during the Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) field campaign. Specifically, column-net, as well as vertical profiles of radiative heating rates, computed over Gan Island in the central Indian Ocean (IO) are used along with an objective analysis of large-scale fields to examine three MJO events that occurred during the 3 month period (October to December 2011) over this region. Longwave (LW) and shortwave radiative heating rates exhibit tilted structures, reflecting radiative effects associated with the prevalence of shallow cumulus during the dry, suppressed MJO phase followed by increasing deep convection leading into the active phase. As the convection builds going into the MJO active phase, there are increasingly top-heavy anomalous radiative heating rates while the column-net radiative cooling rate Qr progressively decreases. Temporal fluctuations in the cloud radiative forcing, being quite sensitive to changes in high cloudiness, are dominated by LW effects with an intraseasonal variation of ~0.4–0.6 K/d. While both the water vapor and cloud fields are inextricably linked, it appears that the tilted radiative structures are more related to water vapor effects. The intraseasonal variation of column-net radiative heating Qr enhances the convective signal in the mean by ~20% with a minimum in this enhancement ~10 days prior to peak MJO rainfall and maximum ~7 days after. Finally, this suggests that as MJO convective envelope weakens over the central IO, cloud-radiative feedbacks help maintain the mature MJO as it moves eastward.},
doi = {10.1002/2016JD025965},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 5,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Thu Feb 16 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

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Shallow Circulations: Relevance and Strategies for Satellite Observation
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