Reconciling differences between large-eddy simulations and Doppler-lidar observations of continental shallow cumulus cloud-base vertical velocity
Abstract
We investigate a significant model-observation difference found between cloud-base vertical velocity for continental shallow cumulus simulated using large-eddy simulations (LES) and observed by Doppler Lidar measurements at the U.S. Southern Great Plains. The LES cloud-base vertical velocity is dominated by updrafts that are consistent with a general picture for convective clouds, but are inconsistent with Doppler lidar observations that also show the presence of considerable downdrafts. The underestimation of simulated downdrafts is found to be a remarkably robust feature, being insensitive to various numerical, physical, or dynamical choices. We find that simulations can more closely reproduce observations only after improving the model physics to use size-resolved microphysics and horizontal longwave radiation, both of which modify the cloud buoyancy and velocity structure near cloud sides. The results suggest that these physical treatments are needed for the proper simulation and subsequent parameterization development of shallow cumulus vertical transport.
- Authors:
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[1];
[1];
[1];
[2];
[4];
[5];
[5];
[6]
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Environmental and Climate Sciences Dept.
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Environmental and Climate Sciences Dept.; Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- City College of New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Atmospheric Science and Global Change Div. (ASGC)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1569540
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1572217; OSTI ID: 1580959; OSTI ID: 1608569
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-212162-2019-JAAM; PNNL-SA-142534
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0012704; AC05‐76RL01830; KP170304; AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 46; Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Cumulus; Shallow convection; Cloud base; Vertical velocity; Large‐eddy simulation; Doppler lidar
Citation Formats
Endo, Satoshi, Zhang, Damao, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Kollias, Pavlos, Lamer, Katia, Oue, Mariko, Xiao, Heng, Gustafson, William I., and Romps, David M. Reconciling differences between large-eddy simulations and Doppler-lidar observations of continental shallow cumulus cloud-base vertical velocity. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1029/2019GL084893.
Endo, Satoshi, Zhang, Damao, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Kollias, Pavlos, Lamer, Katia, Oue, Mariko, Xiao, Heng, Gustafson, William I., & Romps, David M. Reconciling differences between large-eddy simulations and Doppler-lidar observations of continental shallow cumulus cloud-base vertical velocity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084893
Endo, Satoshi, Zhang, Damao, Vogelmann, Andrew M., Kollias, Pavlos, Lamer, Katia, Oue, Mariko, Xiao, Heng, Gustafson, William I., and Romps, David M. Wed .
"Reconciling differences between large-eddy simulations and Doppler-lidar observations of continental shallow cumulus cloud-base vertical velocity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084893. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1569540.
@article{osti_1569540,
title = {Reconciling differences between large-eddy simulations and Doppler-lidar observations of continental shallow cumulus cloud-base vertical velocity},
author = {Endo, Satoshi and Zhang, Damao and Vogelmann, Andrew M. and Kollias, Pavlos and Lamer, Katia and Oue, Mariko and Xiao, Heng and Gustafson, William I. and Romps, David M.},
abstractNote = {We investigate a significant model-observation difference found between cloud-base vertical velocity for continental shallow cumulus simulated using large-eddy simulations (LES) and observed by Doppler Lidar measurements at the U.S. Southern Great Plains. The LES cloud-base vertical velocity is dominated by updrafts that are consistent with a general picture for convective clouds, but are inconsistent with Doppler lidar observations that also show the presence of considerable downdrafts. The underestimation of simulated downdrafts is found to be a remarkably robust feature, being insensitive to various numerical, physical, or dynamical choices. We find that simulations can more closely reproduce observations only after improving the model physics to use size-resolved microphysics and horizontal longwave radiation, both of which modify the cloud buoyancy and velocity structure near cloud sides. The results suggest that these physical treatments are needed for the proper simulation and subsequent parameterization development of shallow cumulus vertical transport.},
doi = {10.1029/2019GL084893},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 20,
volume = 46,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Wed Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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Figures / Tables:
Figure 1: Probability density functions (PDFs) of cloud-base vertical velocity from Doppler lidar measurements and LASSO LES. (a) Measurements (black) and LES (red) for 10 LASSO case days in 2016 using WRF with the VARANAL large-scale forcing and 100 m horizontal grid spacing. Two-year statistics from the measurements are alsomore »
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