On the sizes and lifetimes of cold pools
Abstract
Cold pools of air, which are formed by evaporating precipitation, play a critical role in the triggering of new precipitation. Despite their recognized importance, little effort has been devoted to building simple models of their dynamics. Here, analytical equations are derived for the radius, height, and buoyancy of a cylindrical cold pool as a function of time, and a scale analysis reveals that entrainment is a dominant influence. These governing equations yield simple expressions for the maximum sizes and lifetimes of cold pools. The terminal radius of a cold pool is relatively insensitive to its initial conditions, with a typical maximum radius of about 14 times the initial radius, give or take a factor of 2. The terminal time of a cold pool, on the other hand, can vary over orders of magnitude depending on its initial potential and kinetic energies. Lastly, these predictions are validated against large-eddy simulations.
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1471012
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; ACI‐1053575
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 142; Journal Issue: 696; Journal ID: ISSN 0035-9009
- Publisher:
- Royal Meteorological Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Romps, David M., and Jeevanjee, Nadir. On the sizes and lifetimes of cold pools. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/qj.2754.
Romps, David M., & Jeevanjee, Nadir. On the sizes and lifetimes of cold pools. United States. doi:10.1002/qj.2754.
Romps, David M., and Jeevanjee, Nadir. Fri .
"On the sizes and lifetimes of cold pools". United States. doi:10.1002/qj.2754. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1471012.
@article{osti_1471012,
title = {On the sizes and lifetimes of cold pools},
author = {Romps, David M. and Jeevanjee, Nadir},
abstractNote = {Cold pools of air, which are formed by evaporating precipitation, play a critical role in the triggering of new precipitation. Despite their recognized importance, little effort has been devoted to building simple models of their dynamics. Here, analytical equations are derived for the radius, height, and buoyancy of a cylindrical cold pool as a function of time, and a scale analysis reveals that entrainment is a dominant influence. These governing equations yield simple expressions for the maximum sizes and lifetimes of cold pools. The terminal radius of a cold pool is relatively insensitive to its initial conditions, with a typical maximum radius of about 14 times the initial radius, give or take a factor of 2. The terminal time of a cold pool, on the other hand, can vary over orders of magnitude depending on its initial potential and kinetic energies. Lastly, these predictions are validated against large-eddy simulations.},
doi = {10.1002/qj.2754},
journal = {Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society},
number = 696,
volume = 142,
place = {United States},
year = {2016},
month = {1}
}
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