Shallow Cumulus Properties as Captured by Adiabatic Fraction in High-Resolution LES Simulations
Abstract
Abstract Shallow convective clouds are important players in Earth’s energy budget and hydrological cycle, and are abundant in the tropical and subtropical belts. They greatly contribute to the uncertainty in climate predictions due to their unresolved, complex processes that include coupling between the dynamics and microphysics. Analysis of cloud structure can be simplified by considering cloud motions as a combination of moist adiabatic motions like adiabatic updrafts and turbulent motions leading to deviation from adiabaticity. In this work, we study the sizes and occurrence of adiabatic regions in shallow cumulus clouds during their growth and mature stages, and use the adiabatic fraction (AF) as a continuous metric to describe cloud processes and properties from the core to the edge. To do so, we simulate isolated trade wind cumulus clouds of different sizes using the System of Atmospheric Modeling (SAM) model in high resolution (10 m) with the Hebrew University spectral bin microphysics (SBM). The fine features in the clouds’ dynamics and microphysics, including small near-adiabatic volumes and a thin transition zone at the edge of the cloud (∼20–40 m in width), are captured. The AF is shown to be an efficient measure for analyzing cloud properties and key processes determiningmore »
- Authors:
-
- a Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
- b Institute of Earth Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
- c Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1841798
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 964SC0008811
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences Journal Volume: 79 Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-4928
- Publisher:
- American Meteorological Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Eytan, Eshkol, Khain, Alexander, Pinsky, Mark, Altaratz, Orit, Shpund, Jacob, and Koren, Ilan. Shallow Cumulus Properties as Captured by Adiabatic Fraction in High-Resolution LES Simulations. United States: N. p., 2022.
Web. doi:10.1175/JAS-D-21-0201.1.
Eytan, Eshkol, Khain, Alexander, Pinsky, Mark, Altaratz, Orit, Shpund, Jacob, & Koren, Ilan. Shallow Cumulus Properties as Captured by Adiabatic Fraction in High-Resolution LES Simulations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-21-0201.1
Eytan, Eshkol, Khain, Alexander, Pinsky, Mark, Altaratz, Orit, Shpund, Jacob, and Koren, Ilan. Tue .
"Shallow Cumulus Properties as Captured by Adiabatic Fraction in High-Resolution LES Simulations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-21-0201.1.
@article{osti_1841798,
title = {Shallow Cumulus Properties as Captured by Adiabatic Fraction in High-Resolution LES Simulations},
author = {Eytan, Eshkol and Khain, Alexander and Pinsky, Mark and Altaratz, Orit and Shpund, Jacob and Koren, Ilan},
abstractNote = {Abstract Shallow convective clouds are important players in Earth’s energy budget and hydrological cycle, and are abundant in the tropical and subtropical belts. They greatly contribute to the uncertainty in climate predictions due to their unresolved, complex processes that include coupling between the dynamics and microphysics. Analysis of cloud structure can be simplified by considering cloud motions as a combination of moist adiabatic motions like adiabatic updrafts and turbulent motions leading to deviation from adiabaticity. In this work, we study the sizes and occurrence of adiabatic regions in shallow cumulus clouds during their growth and mature stages, and use the adiabatic fraction (AF) as a continuous metric to describe cloud processes and properties from the core to the edge. To do so, we simulate isolated trade wind cumulus clouds of different sizes using the System of Atmospheric Modeling (SAM) model in high resolution (10 m) with the Hebrew University spectral bin microphysics (SBM). The fine features in the clouds’ dynamics and microphysics, including small near-adiabatic volumes and a thin transition zone at the edge of the cloud (∼20–40 m in width), are captured. The AF is shown to be an efficient measure for analyzing cloud properties and key processes determining the droplet-size distribution formation and shape during the cloud evolution. Physical processes governing the properties of droplet size distributions at different cloud regions (e.g., core, edge) are analyzed in relation to AF. Significance Statement 1) This study investigates the evolution of cumulus clouds (Cu) using a 10-m-resolution LES model with spectral bin microphysics. 2) The study improves the understanding of the mutual effects of adiabatic updrafts and lateral entrainment and mixing. 3) The study demonstrates the existence of an adiabatic core in nonprecipitating Cu. 4) Shapes of the droplet size distributions are closely related to the adiabatic fraction values. 5) Utilization of high resolution reveals the existence of physically significant small features in the cloud structure, such as a narrow cloud interface zone and small adiabatic volumes.},
doi = {10.1175/JAS-D-21-0201.1},
journal = {Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences},
number = 2,
volume = 79,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2022},
month = {Tue Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 2022}
}
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