Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Why does tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) increase with warming?

Abstract

Previous work has produced a theory for tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) that highlights the Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) scaling of the atmosphere's saturation deficit as a driver of increases in CAPE with warming. Here we test this so-called "zero-buoyancy" theory for CAPE by modulating the saturation deficit of cloud-resolving simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium in two ways: changing the sea surface temperature (SST) and changing the environmental relative humidity (RH). For earthlike and warmer SSTs, undilute parcel buoyancy in the lower troposphere is insensitive to increasing SST because of a countervailing CC scaling that balances the increase in the saturation deficit; however, buoyancy increases dramatically with SST in the upper troposphere. Conversely, in the RH experiment, undilute buoyancy throughout the troposphere increases monotonically with decreasing RH. We show that the zero-buoyancy theory successfully predicts these contrasting behaviors, building confidence that it describes the fundamental physics of CAPE and its response to warming.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
OSTI Identifier:
1470996
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Geophysical Research Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 42; Journal Issue: 23; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
58 GEOSCIENCES

Citation Formats

Seeley, Jacob T., and Romps, David M. Why does tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) increase with warming?. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1002/2015GL066199.
Copy to clipboard
Seeley, Jacob T., & Romps, David M. Why does tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) increase with warming?. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066199
Copy to clipboard
Seeley, Jacob T., and Romps, David M. Wed . "Why does tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) increase with warming?". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066199. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1470996.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1470996,
title = {Why does tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) increase with warming?},
author = {Seeley, Jacob T. and Romps, David M.},
abstractNote = {Previous work has produced a theory for tropical convective available potential energy (CAPE) that highlights the Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) scaling of the atmosphere's saturation deficit as a driver of increases in CAPE with warming. Here we test this so-called "zero-buoyancy" theory for CAPE by modulating the saturation deficit of cloud-resolving simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium in two ways: changing the sea surface temperature (SST) and changing the environmental relative humidity (RH). For earthlike and warmer SSTs, undilute parcel buoyancy in the lower troposphere is insensitive to increasing SST because of a countervailing CC scaling that balances the increase in the saturation deficit; however, buoyancy increases dramatically with SST in the upper troposphere. Conversely, in the RH experiment, undilute buoyancy throughout the troposphere increases monotonically with decreasing RH. We show that the zero-buoyancy theory successfully predicts these contrasting behaviors, building confidence that it describes the fundamental physics of CAPE and its response to warming.},
doi = {10.1002/2015GL066199},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 23,
volume = 42,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Wed Dec 02 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066199
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 69 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
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:

On the Environments of Tornadic and Nontornadic Mesocyclones
journal, December 1994

On How Hot Towers Fuel the Hadley Cell: An Observational and Modeling Study of Line-Organized Convection in the Equatorial Trough from TOGA COARE
journal, September 2009

  • Fierro, Alexandre O.; Simpson, Joanne; LeMone, Margaret A.
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 66, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1175/2009JAS3017.1

Response of Tropical Precipitation to Global Warming
journal, January 2011

The Effect of Global Warming on Severe Thunderstorms in the United States
journal, March 2015

Entrainment and Detrainment in Cumulus Clouds
journal, January 1991

Projected increase in lightning strikes in the United States due to global warming
journal, November 2014

The evolution of the tropical western Pacific atmosphere-ocean system following the arrival of a dry intrusion
journal, January 2000

  • Parsons, David B.; Redelsperger, Jean-Luc; Yoneyama, Kunio
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 126, Issue 563
  • DOI: 10.1002/qj.49712656307

Is the Tropical Atmosphere in Convective Quasi-Equilibrium?
journal, June 2015

Performance of Some Airborne Thermometers in Clouds
journal, June 1990

Nature versus Nurture in Shallow Convection
journal, May 2010

  • Romps, David M.; Kuang, Zhiming
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 67, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1175/2009JAS3307.1

A Radar and Electrical Study of Tropical “Hot Towers”
journal, August 1992

Variability of Midtropospheric Moisture and Its Effect on Cloud-Top Height Distribution during TOGA COARE*
journal, December 1997

A mechanism for land–ocean contrasts in global monsoon trends in a warming climate
journal, December 2011

Temperature and CAPE dependence of rainfall extremes in the eastern United States
journal, January 2015

  • Lepore, Chiara; Veneziano, Daniele; Molini, Annalisa
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 42, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1002/2014GL062247

Influence of entrainment on the thermal stratification in simulations of radiative-convective equilibrium: ENTRAINMENT AND THERMAL STRATIFICATION
journal, August 2013

  • Singh, Martin S.; O'Gorman, Paul A.
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1002/grl.50796

The Deepening of Tropical Convection by Congestus Preconditioning
journal, August 2010

  • Waite, Michael L.; Khouider, Boualem
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 67, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1175/2010JAS3357.1

Projected Future Seasonal Changes in Tropical Summer Climate
journal, January 2011

A Mass-Flux Scheme View of a High-Resolution Simulation of a Transition from Shallow to Deep Cumulus Convection
journal, July 2006

  • Kuang, Zhiming; Bretherton, Christopher S.
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 63, Issue 7
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAS3723.1

MSE Minus CAPE is the True Conserved Variable for an Adiabatically Lifted Parcel
journal, September 2015

High-Resolution Simulation of Shallow-to-Deep Convection Transition over Land
journal, December 2006

  • Khairoutdinov, Marat; Randall, David
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 63, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAS3810.1

The Dry-Entropy Budget of a Moist Atmosphere
journal, December 2008

Factors responsible for the vertical development of tropical oceanic cumulus convection: FACTORS FOR TROPICAL CUMULUS DEVELOPMENT
journal, June 2004

  • Takemi, Tetsuya; Hirayama, Osamu; Liu, Changhai
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 31, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1029/2004GL020225

Buoyancy of Convective Clouds in TOGA COARE
journal, November 1998

An important constraint on tropical cloud - climate feedback: TROPICAL CLOUD-CLIMATE FEEDBACK
journal, October 2002

  • Hartmann, Dennis L.; Larson, Kristin
  • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 29, Issue 20
  • DOI: 10.1029/2002GL015835

Observations of cumulus cloud entrainment
journal, February 1990

Sensitivity of moist convection to environmental humidity
journal, October 2004

  • Derbyshire, S. H.; Beau, I.; Bechtold, P.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 130, Issue 604
  • DOI: 10.1256/qj.03.130

The role of stability and moisture in the diurnal cycle of convection over land
journal, October 2004

  • Chaboureau, J. -P.; Guichard, F.; Redelsperger, J. -L.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 130, Issue 604
  • DOI: 10.1256/qj.03.132

Cumulonimbus Vertical Velocity Events in GATE. Part II: Synthesis and Model Core Structure
journal, November 1980

Robust increases in severe thunderstorm environments in response to greenhouse forcing
journal, September 2013

  • Diffenbaugh, N. S.; Scherer, M.; Trapp, R. J.
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 110, Issue 41
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1307758110

Gravity Waves, Compensating Subsidence and Detrainment around Cumulus Clouds
journal, March 1989

Intensification of Precipitation Extremes with Warming in a Cloud-Resolving Model
journal, June 2011

  • Muller, Caroline J.; O’Gorman, Paul A.; Back, Larissa E.
  • Journal of Climate, Vol. 24, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1175/2011JCLI3876.1

Radiative-Dynamical Consequences of Dry Tongues in the Tropical Troposphere
journal, February 1996

Slippery Thermals and the Cumulus Entrainment Paradox*
journal, August 2013

  • Sherwood, Steven C.; Hernández-Deckers, Daniel; Colin, Maxime
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 70, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAS-D-12-0220.1

Do Undiluted Convective Plumes Exist in the Upper Tropical Troposphere?
journal, February 2010

  • Romps, David M.; Kuang, Zhiming
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 67, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1175/2009JAS3184.1

Variability of Midtropospheric Moisture and Its Effect on Cloud-Top Height Distribution during TOGA COARE*
journal, December 1997

A mechanism for land–ocean contrasts in global monsoon trends in a warming climate
journal, December 2011

Observations of cumulus cloud entrainment
journal, February 1990

Performance of Some Airborne Thermometers in Clouds
journal, June 1990

Is the Tropical Atmosphere in Convective Quasi-Equilibrium?
journal, May 2015

Radiative-Dynamical Consequences of Dry Tongues in the Tropical Troposphere
journal, February 1996

An Analytical Model for Tropical Relative Humidity
journal, September 2014

The Effect of Global Warming on Severe Thunderstorms in the United States
journal, March 2015

Slippery Thermals and the Cumulus Entrainment Paradox*
journal, August 2013

  • Sherwood, Steven C.; Hernández-Deckers, Daniel; Colin, Maxime
  • Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 70, Issue 8
  • DOI: 10.1175/JAS‐D‐12‐0220.1

Buoyancy of Convective Clouds in TOGA COARE
journal, November 1998

    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    On the Utility (or Futility) of Using Stable Water Isotopes to Constrain the Bulk Properties of Tropical Convection
    journal, February 2018

    • Duan, Suqin Q.; Wright, Jonathon S.; Romps, David M.
    • Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 10, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.1002/2017ms001074

    Performance of a simple reanalysis proxy for U.S. cloud‐to‐ground lightning
    journal, March 2019

    • Tippett, Michael K.; Lepore, Chiara; Koshak, William J.
    • International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 39, Issue 10
    • DOI: 10.1002/joc.6049

    Convection and Climate: What Have We Learned from Simple Models and Simplified Settings?
    journal, June 2019

    • Hartmann, Dennis L.; Blossey, Peter N.; Dygert, Brittany D.
    • Current Climate Change Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.1007/s40641-019-00136-9

    Increasingly Powerful Tornadoes in the United States
    journal, January 2019

    • Elsner, James B.; Fricker, Tyler; Schroder, Zoe
    • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 1
    • DOI: 10.1029/2018gl080819

    Relationships Between Tropical Ascent and High Cloud Fraction Changes With Warming Revealed by Perturbation Physics Experiments in CAM5
    journal, August 2019

    • Schiro, Kathleen A.; Su, Hui; Wang, Yuan
    • Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 16
    • DOI: 10.1029/2019gl083026

    A Steady‐State Model for the Relationship Between Humidity, Instability, and Precipitation in the Tropics
    journal, December 2019

    • Singh, Martin S.; Warren, Robert A.; Jakob, Christian
    • Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 11, Issue 12
    • DOI: 10.1029/2019ms001686

    Ice nucleation by aerosols from anthropogenic pollution
    journal, July 2019

    Increasing potential for intense tropical and subtropical thunderstorms under global warming
    journal, October 2017

    • Singh, Martin S.; Kuang, Zhiming; Maloney, Eric D.
    • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 114, Issue 44
    • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707603114

    Radiative–convective equilibrium model intercomparison project
    journal, January 2018

    • Wing, Allison A.; Reed, Kevin A.; Satoh, Masaki
    • Geoscientific Model Development, Vol. 11, Issue 2
    • DOI: 10.5194/gmd-11-793-2018

    Increasingly Powerful Tornadoes in the United States
    journal, May 2018

    • Eisner, James B.; Fricker, Tyler; Schroder, Zoe
    • Geophysical Research Letters
    • DOI: 10.31223/osf.io/wpkt9
      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: