The Challenge of Identifying Controls on Cloud Properties and Precipitation Onset for Cumulus Congestus Sampled During MC3E
Abstract
Here, the controls on precipitation onset and the transition from shallow cumulus to congestus are explored using a suite of 16 large–eddy simulations based on the 25 May 2011 event from the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). The thermodynamic variables in the model are relaxed at various timescales to observationally constrained temperature and moisture profiles in order to better reproduce the observed behavior of precipitation onset and total precipitation. Three of the simulations stand out as best matching the precipitation observations and also perform well for independent comparisons of cloud fraction, precipitation area fraction, and evolution of cloud top occurrence. All three simulations exhibit a destabilization over time, which leads to a transition to deeper clouds, but the evolution of traditional stability metrics by themselves is not able to explain differences in the simulations. Conditionally sampled cloud properties (in particular, mean cloud buoyancy), however, do elicit differences among the simulations. The inability of environmental profiles alone to discern subtle differences among the simulations and the usefulness of conditionally sampled model quantities argue for hybrid observational/modeling approaches. These combined approaches enable a more complete physical understanding of cloud systems by combining observational sampling of time–varying three–dimensional meteorological quantities and cloudmore »
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States)
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (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)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1454808
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-205751-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 123; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; MC3E; LES; congestus; radar; forcing; nudging
Citation Formats
Mechem, David B., and Giangrande, Scott E. The Challenge of Identifying Controls on Cloud Properties and Precipitation Onset for Cumulus Congestus Sampled During MC3E. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1002/2017JD027457.
Mechem, David B., & Giangrande, Scott E. The Challenge of Identifying Controls on Cloud Properties and Precipitation Onset for Cumulus Congestus Sampled During MC3E. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027457
Mechem, David B., and Giangrande, Scott E. Thu .
"The Challenge of Identifying Controls on Cloud Properties and Precipitation Onset for Cumulus Congestus Sampled During MC3E". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027457. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1454808.
@article{osti_1454808,
title = {The Challenge of Identifying Controls on Cloud Properties and Precipitation Onset for Cumulus Congestus Sampled During MC3E},
author = {Mechem, David B. and Giangrande, Scott E.},
abstractNote = {Here, the controls on precipitation onset and the transition from shallow cumulus to congestus are explored using a suite of 16 large–eddy simulations based on the 25 May 2011 event from the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). The thermodynamic variables in the model are relaxed at various timescales to observationally constrained temperature and moisture profiles in order to better reproduce the observed behavior of precipitation onset and total precipitation. Three of the simulations stand out as best matching the precipitation observations and also perform well for independent comparisons of cloud fraction, precipitation area fraction, and evolution of cloud top occurrence. All three simulations exhibit a destabilization over time, which leads to a transition to deeper clouds, but the evolution of traditional stability metrics by themselves is not able to explain differences in the simulations. Conditionally sampled cloud properties (in particular, mean cloud buoyancy), however, do elicit differences among the simulations. The inability of environmental profiles alone to discern subtle differences among the simulations and the usefulness of conditionally sampled model quantities argue for hybrid observational/modeling approaches. These combined approaches enable a more complete physical understanding of cloud systems by combining observational sampling of time–varying three–dimensional meteorological quantities and cloud properties, along with detailed representation of cloud microphysical and dynamical processes from numerical models.},
doi = {10.1002/2017JD027457},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 6,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:
Works referenced in this record:
Simulations of midlatitude frontal clouds by single-column and cloud-resolving models during the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement March 2000 cloud intensive operational period
journal, January 2005
- Xie, Shaocheng
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, Issue D15
Marine boundary layer clouds at the heart of tropical cloud feedback uncertainties in climate models
journal, January 2005
- Bony, Sandrine
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 32, Issue 20
Large-Eddy Simulations of a Drizzling, Stratocumulus-Topped Marine Boundary Layer
journal, March 2009
- Ackerman, Andrew S.; vanZanten, Margreet C.; Stevens, Bjorn
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 137, Issue 3
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Cloud Profiling Radars: An Evaluation of Signal Processing and Sampling Strategies
journal, July 2005
- Kollias, Pavlos; Albrecht, Bruce A.; Clothiaux, Eugene E.
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 22, Issue 7
Mesoscale Weather Prediction with the RUC Hybrid Isentropic–Terrain-Following Coordinate Model
journal, February 2004
- Benjamin, Stanley G.; Grell, Georg A.; Brown, John M.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 132, Issue 2
Revealing differences in GCM representations of low clouds
journal, November 2009
- Medeiros, Brian; Stevens, Bjorn
- Climate Dynamics, Vol. 36, Issue 1-2
Aquaplanets, Climate Sensitivity, and Low Clouds
journal, October 2008
- Medeiros, Brian; Stevens, Bjorn; Held, Isaac M.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 21, Issue 19
Constrained Variational Analysis of Sounding Data Based on Column-Integrated Budgets of Mass, Heat, Moisture, and Momentum: Approach and Application to ARM Measurements
journal, June 1997
- Zhang, M. H.; Lin, J. L.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 54, Issue 11
What Are Climate Models Missing?
journal, May 2013
- Stevens, B.; Bony, S.
- Science, Vol. 340, Issue 6136
Modeling springtime shallow frontal clouds with cloud-resolving and single-column models
journal, January 2005
- Xu, Kuan-Man
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 110, Issue D15
Evaluation of Precipitation Simulated by Seven SCMs against the ARM Observations at the SGP Site
journal, August 2013
- Song, Hua; Lin, Wuyin; Lin, Yanluan
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 15
Surface heterogeneity impacts on boundary layer dynamics via energy balance partitioning
journal, January 2011
- Brunsell, N. A.; Mechem, D. B.; Anderson, M. C.
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol. 11, Issue 7
North American Regional Reanalysis
journal, March 2006
- Mesinger, Fedor; DiMego, Geoff; Kalnay, Eugenia
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 87, Issue 3
Numerical simulation of tropical cumulus congestus during TOGA COARE: TROPICAL CUMULUS CONGESTUS
journal, July 2013
- Mechem, D. B.; Oberthaler, A. J.
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 5, Issue 3
A New Double-Moment Microphysics Parameterization for Application in Cloud and Climate Models. Part I: Description
journal, June 2005
- Morrison, H.; Curry, J. A.; Khvorostyanov, V. I.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 6
Characterization of Vertical Velocity and Drop Size Distribution Parameters in Widespread Precipitation at ARM Facilities
journal, February 2012
- Giangrande, Scott E.; Luke, Edward P.; Kollias, Pavlos
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 51, Issue 2
Large-Eddy Simulation of Post-Cold-Frontal Continental Stratocumulus
journal, December 2010
- Mechem, David B.; Kogan, Yefim L.; Schultz, David M.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 67, Issue 12
The Turbulence Structure in a Continental Stratocumulus Cloud from Millimeter-Wavelength Radar Observations
journal, August 2000
- Kollias, Pavlos; Albrecht, Bruce
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 57, Issue 15
A Large Eddy Simulation Intercomparison Study of Shallow Cumulus Convection
journal, May 2003
- Siebesma, A. Pier; Bretherton, Christopher S.; Brown, Andrew
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 60, Issue 10
Estimation of cloud fraction profile in shallow convection using a scanning cloud radar: Cloud Fraction of Shallow Cumuli
journal, October 2016
- Oue, Mariko; Kollias, Pavlos; North, Kirk W.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 20
A Survey of Precipitation-Induced Atmospheric Cold Pools over Oceans and Their Interactions with the Larger-Scale Environment
journal, November 2017
- Zuidema, Paquita; Torri, Giuseppe; Muller, Caroline
- Surveys in Geophysics, Vol. 38, Issue 6
Effect of Soil Moisture on Diurnal Convection and Precipitation in Large-Eddy Simulations
journal, July 2017
- Cioni, Guido; Hohenegger, Cathy
- Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 18, Issue 7
An intercomparison of cloud-resolving models with the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement summer 1997 Intensive Observation Period data
journal, January 2002
- Xu, Kuan-Man; Cederwall, Richard T.; Donner, Leo J.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 128, Issue 580
Scanning ARM Cloud Radars. Part II: Data Quality Control and Processing
journal, March 2014
- Kollias, Pavlos; Jo, Leng; Borque, Paloma
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 31, Issue 3, p. 583-598
Precipitation and Cloud Structure in Midlatitude Cyclones
journal, January 2007
- Field, Paul R.; Wood, Robert
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 20, Issue 2
The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E)
journal, September 2016
- Jensen, M. P.; Petersen, W. A.; Bansemer, A.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 97, Issue 9
A New Cloud Physics Parameterization in a Large-Eddy Simulation Model of Marine Stratocumulus
journal, January 2000
- Khairoutdinov, Marat; Kogan, Yefim
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 128, Issue 1
A single-column model intercomparison of a heavily drizzling stratocumulus-topped boundary layer
journal, January 2007
- Wyant, Matthew C.; Bretherton, Christopher S.; Chlond, Andreas
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 112, Issue D24
The Role of Entrainment in the Diurnal Cycle of Continental Convection
journal, May 2010
- Del Genio, Anthony D.; Wu, Jingbo
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 23, Issue 10
Precipitation Estimation from the ARM Distributed Radar Network during the MC3E Campaign
journal, September 2014
- Giangrande, Scott E.; Collis, Scott; Theisen, Adam K.
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 53, Issue 9
Factors Controlling the Vertical Extent of Fair-Weather Shallow Cumulus Clouds over Land: Investigation of Diurnal-Cycle Observations Collected at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site
journal, April 2013
- Zhang, Yunyan; Klein, Stephen A.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 70, Issue 4
Influence of aerosol-radiative forcings on the diurnal and seasonal cycles of rainfall over West Africa and Eastern Atlantic Ocean using GCM simulations
journal, February 2010
- Kim, Kyu-Myong; Lau, William K. -M.; Sud, Yogesh C.
- Climate Dynamics, Vol. 35, Issue 1
Constructing Three-Dimensional Multiple-Radar Reflectivity Mosaics: Examples of Convective Storms and Stratiform Rain Echoes
journal, January 2005
- Zhang, Jian; Howard, Kenneth; Gourley, J. J.
- Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, Vol. 22, Issue 1
A parameterization of warm cloud microphysical conversion processes
journal, June 1994
- Beheng, K. D.
- Atmospheric Research, Vol. 33, Issue 1-4
An Hourly Assimilation–Forecast Cycle: The RUC
journal, February 2004
- Benjamin, Stanley G.; Dévényi, Dezsö; Weygandt, Stephen S.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 132, Issue 2
Large-eddy simulation of the diurnal cycle of shallow cumulus convection over land
journal, April 2002
- Brown, A. R.; Cederwall, R. T.; Chlond, A.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 128, Issue 582
First Observations of Tracking Clouds Using Scanning ARM Cloud Radars
journal, December 2014
- Borque, Paloma; Kollias, Pavlos; Giangrande, Scott
- Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol. 53, Issue 12
Simulations of Trade Wind Cumuli under a Strong Inversion
journal, July 2001
- Stevens, Bjorn; Ackerman, Andrew S.; Albrecht, Bruce A.
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 58, Issue 14
Evaluation of Large-Eddy Simulations via Observations of Nocturnal Marine Stratocumulus
journal, June 2005
- Stevens, Bjorn; Moeng, Chin-Hoh; Ackerman, Andrew S.
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 133, Issue 6
The Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) sounding network: operations, processing and analysis
journal, January 2015
- Jensen, M. P.; Toto, T.; Troyan, D.
- Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Precipitation Characteristics in Eighteen Coupled Climate Models
journal, September 2006
- Dai, Aiguo
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 18
The Arm Climate Research Facility: A Review of Structure and Capabilities
journal, March 2013
- Mather, James H.; Voyles, Jimmy W.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 94, Issue 3
On the Fidelity of Large-Eddy Simulation of Shallow Precipitating Cumulus Convection
journal, September 2011
- Matheou, Georgios; Chung, Daniel; Nuijens, Louise
- Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 139, Issue 9
An Energy-Balance Analysis of Deep Convective Self-Aggregation above Uniform SST
journal, December 2005
- Bretherton, Christopher S.; Blossey, Peter N.; Khairoutdinov, Marat
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 62, Issue 12
Daytime convective development over land: A model intercomparison based on LBA observations
journal, January 2006
- Grabowski, W. W.; Bechtold, P.; Cheng, A.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 132, Issue 615
Rain in Shallow Cumulus Over the Ocean: The RICO Campaign
journal, December 2007
- Rauber, Robert M.; Stevens, Bjorn; Ochs, Harry T.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 88, Issue 12
What Controls the Transition from Shallow to Deep Convection?
journal, June 2009
- Wu, Chien-Ming; Stevens, Bjorn; Arakawa, Akio
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 66, Issue 6
Insights from modeling and observational evaluation of a precipitating continental cumulus event observed during the MC3E field campaign: Precipitating congestus during MC3E
journal, March 2015
- Mechem, David B.; Giangrande, Scott E.; Wittman, Carly S.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 5
Controls on precipitation and cloudiness in simulations of trade-wind cumulus as observed during RICO: CONTROLS ON PRECIPITATION … IN TRADE-WIND CUMULUS
journal, February 2011
- vanZanten, Margreet C.; Stevens, Bjorn; Nuijens, Louise
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 3, Issue 2
The impacts of heterogeneous land surface fluxes on the diurnal cycle precipitation: A framework for improving the GCM representation of land-atmosphere interactions: DIURNAL CYCLE PRECIPITATION
journal, May 2015
- Wu, Chien-Ming; Lo, Min-Hui; Chen, Wei-Ting
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 9
Interactions between cumulus convection and its environment as revealed by the MC3E sounding array: Convection with its environment
journal, October 2014
- Xie, Shaocheng; Zhang, Yunyan; Giangrande, Scott E.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 119, Issue 20
Works referencing / citing this record:
xsacrgridrhi.c0 v1.0 from 20181228
dataset, January 2020
- Wang, Meng; Giangrande, Scott; Hardin, Joseph
- Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); ARM Data Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Figures / Tables found in this record: