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Title: Theoretical Understanding of the Linear Relationship between Convective Updrafts and Cloud-Base Height for Shallow Cumulus Clouds. Part I: Maritime Conditions

Journal Article · · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
 [1]
  1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Zheng and Rosenfeld found linear relationships between the convective updrafts and cloud-base height zbusing ground-based observations over both land and ocean. The empirical relationships allow for a novel satellite remote sensing technique of inferring the cloud-base updrafts and cloud condensation nuclei concentration, both of which are important for understanding aerosol–cloud–climate interactions but have been notoriously difficult to retrieve from space. In Part I of a two-part study, a theoretical framework is established for understanding this empirical relationship over the ocean. Part II deals with continental cumulus clouds. Using the bulk concept of mixed-layer (ML) model for shallow cumulus, I found that this relationship arises from the conservation law of energetics that requires the radiative flux divergence of an ML to balance surface buoyancy flux. Given a certain ML radiative cooling rate per unit mass Q, a deeper ML (higher zb) undergoes more radiative cooling and requires stronger surface buoyancy flux to balance it, leading to stronger updrafts. The rate with which the updrafts vary with zbis modulated by Q. The cooling rate Q manifests strong resilience to external large-scale forcing that spans a wide range of climatology, allowing the slope of the updrafts– zbrelationship to remain nearly invariant. This causes the relationship to manifest linearity. The physical mechanism underlying the resilience of Q to large-scale forcing, such as free-tropospheric moisture and sea surface temperature, is investigated through the lens of the radiative transfer theory (two-stream Schwarzschild equations) and an ML model for shallow cumulus.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018996
OSTI ID:
1545922
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1613055
Journal Information:
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol. 76, Issue 8; ISSN 0022-4928
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (1)

A Numerical Study of Aerosol Effects on Electrification with Different Intensity Thunderclouds journal August 2019

Figures / Tables (20)

FIG. 1(p. 3)figure FIG. 1
FIG. 2(p. 4)figure FIG. 2
FIG. 3(p. 4)figure FIG. 3
FIG. 4(p. 5)figure FIG. 4
FIG. 5(p. 7)figure FIG. 5
FIG. 6(p. 7)figure FIG. 6
FIG. 7(p. 8)figure FIG. 7
FIG. 8(p. 8)figure FIG. 8
FIG. 10(p. 9)figure FIG. 10
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FIG. 11(p. 10)figure FIG. 11
FIG. 12(p. 11)figure FIG. 12
FIG. 13(p. 12)figure FIG. 13
TABLE 1(p. 12)table TABLE 1
FIG. 14(p. 13)figure FIG. 14
FIG. 15(p. 14)figure FIG. 15
FIG. 16(p. 15)figure FIG. 16
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FIG. 18(p. 16)figure FIG. 18
FIG. 19(p. 17)figure FIG. 19

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