{"title":"Infrared scattering of cloud in an isothermal atmosphere","authors":"Chongxing Fan, Xianglei Huang","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0050.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0050.1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the absence of scattering, thermal contrast in the atmosphere is the key to infrared remote sensing. Without the thermal contrast, the amount of absorption will be identical to the amount of emission, making the atmospheric vertical structure undetectable using remote sensing techniques. Here we show that, even in such an isothermal atmosphere, the scattering of clouds can cause a distinguishable change in upwelling radiance at the top of the atmosphere. A two-stream analytical solution, as well as a budget analysis based on Monte-Carlo simulations, are used to offer a physical explanation of such influence on an idealized isothermal atmosphere by cloud scattering: it increases the chance of photons being absorbed by the atmosphere before they can reach the boundaries (both top and bottom), which leads to a reduction of TOA upwelling radiance. Actual sounding profiles and cloud properties inferred from satellite observations within six-hour timeframes are fed into a more realistic and comprehensive radiative transfer model to show such cloud scattering effect, under nearly isothermal circumstances in the lower troposphere, can lead to ~1 to 1.5 K decrease in brightness temperature for the nadir-view MODIS 8.5-μm channel. The study suggests that cloud scattering can provide signals useful for remote sensing applications even for such an isothermal environment.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136060640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fabian Hoffmann, Franziska Glassmeier, Takanobu Yamaguchi, Graham Feingold
{"title":"On the Roles of Precipitation and Entrainment in Stratocumulus Transitions Between Mesoscale States","authors":"Fabian Hoffmann, Franziska Glassmeier, Takanobu Yamaguchi, Graham Feingold","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-22-0268.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-22-0268.1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Stratocumulus occur in closed or open cell states, which tend to be associated with high or low cloud cover and the absence or presence of precipitation, respectively. Thus, the transition between these states has substantial implications for the role of this cloud type in Earth’s radiation budget. In this study, we analyze transitions between these states using an ensemble of 127 large-eddy simulations, covering a wide range of conditions. Our analysis is focused on the behavior of these clouds in a cloud fraction ( f c ) scene albedo ( A ) phase space, which has been shown in previous studies to be a useful framework for interpreting system behavior. For the transition from closed to open cells, we find that precipitation creates narrower clouds and scavenges cloud droplets for all f c . However, precipitation decreases the cloud depth for f c > 0.8 only, causing a rapid decrease in A . For f c < 0.8, the cloud depth actually increases due to mesoscale organization of the cloud field. As the cloud deepening balances the effects of cloud droplet scavenging in terms of influence on A , changes in A are determined by the decreasing f c only, causing a linear decrease in A for f c < 0.8. For the transition from open to closed cells, we find that longwave radiative cooling drives the cloud development, with cloud widening dominating for f c < 0.5. For f c > 0.5, clouds begin to deepen gradually due to the decreasing efficiency of lateral expansion. The smooth switch between cloud widening and deepening leads to a more gentle change in A compared to the transitions under precipitating conditions.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135060813","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Composite Response of Traveling Planetary Waves in the Middle Atmosphere Surrounding Sudden Stratospheric Warmings through an Overreflection Perspective","authors":"C. Todd Rhodes, Varavut Limpasuvan, Yvan Orsolini","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-22-0266.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-22-0266.1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Traveling planetary waves surrounding sudden stratospheric warming events can result from direct propagation from below or in situ generation. They can have significant impacts on the circulation in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Our study runs a series of ensembles initialized from the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model, Version 4, nudged up to 50 km by six-hourly Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, Version 2, reanalysis to compile a library of sudden stratospheric warming events. To our knowledge, we present the first composite or ensemble study that attempts to link direct propagation and in situ generation by evaluating the wave geometries associated with the overreflection perspective, a framework used to describe how planetary waves interact with critical and turning levels. The present study looks at the evolution of these interactions through the onset of sudden stratospheric warmings with an elevated stratopause or ES-SSWs. Robust and unique features of ES-SSWs are determined by employing an ensemble study that compares ES-SSWs with normal winters. Our study evaluates the production and impacts of westward-propagating, quasi-stationary, and eastward-propagating planetary waves surrounding ES-SSWs. Our results show that eastward-propagating planetary waves are generated within the westward stratospheric wind layer after ES-SSW onset which aids in restoring the eastward stratospheric wind. The interaction of quasi-stationary and westward-propagating waves with the westward stratospheric wind is explored from an overreflection perspective and reaffirms that westward-propagating planetary waves are produced from instabilities at the top of the westward stratospheric wind reversal.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135781758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Physics of High CAPE","authors":"K. Emanuel","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0060.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0060.1","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Large values of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) are an important ingredient for many severe convective storms, yet there has been comparatively little research on how, physically, such large values arise or why they take on the observed values and climatology. Here we build on recently published observational and theoretical work to construct a simple, one-dimensional coupled soil-atmosphere model of pre-convective boundary layer growth, driven by a single diurnal cycle of prescribed net surface radiation. Based on this model and previously published research, we suggest that high CAPE (>∼ 1000 J/Kg) results when air masses that have been significantly modified by passage over dry, lightly vegetated soils are advected over moist and or moderately vegetated soils and then exposed to surface solar heating. Several diurnal cycles may be needed to raise the moist static energy of the boundary layer to levels consistent with high CAPE. The production of CAPE and erosion of Convective Inhibition (CIN) are strongly affected by the potential temperature of the desert-modified air mass, the level of near-surface soil moisture (and root-zone soil moisture if significant vegetation is present), the type of soil, and the characteristics of the vegetation. Consequently, CAPE production and severe convective weather may be significantly affected by regional-scale land use changes and by climate change.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45824376","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hugh Morrison, N. Jeevanjee, Daniel Lecoanet, John M. Peters
{"title":"What controls the entrainment rate of dry buoyant thermals with varying initial aspect ratio?","authors":"Hugh Morrison, N. Jeevanjee, Daniel Lecoanet, John M. Peters","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0063.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0063.1","url":null,"abstract":"This study uses theory and numerical simulations to analyze the non-dimensional spreading rate α (change in radius with height) of buoyant thermals as they rise and entrain surrounding environmental fluid. A focus is on how α varies with initial thermal aspect ratio Ar, defined as height divided by width of the initial buoyancy perturbation. An analytic equation for thermal ascent rate wt that depends on α is derived from the thermal volume-averaged momentum budget equation. The thermal top height when wt is maximum, defining a critical height zc, is inversely proportional to α. zc also corresponds to the thermal top height when buoyant fluid along the thermal’s vertical axis is fully replaced by entrained non-buoyant environmental fluid rising from below the thermal. The timescale for this process is controlled by the vertical velocity of parcels rising upward through the thermal’s core. This parcel vertical velocity is approximated from Hill’s analytic spherical vortex, yielding an analytic inverse relation between α and Ar. Physically, this α-Ar relation is connected to changes in circulation as Ar is modified. Numerical simulations of thermals with Ar varied from 0.5 to 2 give α values close to the analytic theoretical relation, with a factor of ~3 decrease in α as Ar is increased from 0.5 to 2. The theory also explains why α of initially spherical thermals from past laboratory and modeling studies is about 0.15. Overall, this study provides a theoretical underpinning for understanding the entrainment behavior of thermals, relevant to buoyantly-driven atmospheric flows.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49550595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Influence of Gravity and Mass Loading on the Coalescence of Aerodynamically Interacting Droplets in Homogeneous Isotropic Turbulence","authors":"Antoine Michel, Ahmad Ababaei, Bogdan Rosa","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-22-0267.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-22-0267.1","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The collision–coalescence of cloud droplets in atmospheric turbulent flow is analyzed numerically using direct numerical simulation coupled to a Lagrangian particle tracking. The droplet aerodynamic interactions (AI) are represented for employing two complementary approaches. For large separations, the interaction forces are evaluated by the superposition of Stokes disturbance velocities generated by moving particles. When the distance between droplets is comparable to their mean radii, lubrication forces are additionally considered. Simulation results show that without gravitational acceleration, aerodynamic interactions decrease the kinetics of the coalescence process but do not significantly impact the size spectrum broadening. The influence of AI on the coalescence kinetics is more complex in the presence of gravity and depends on the mass loading and on droplet inertia. Long-range aerodynamic interactions reduce the coalescences in dilute suspensions but increase the collision rate in dense suspensions of high-inertia droplets. In contrast, lubrication forces decrease the collision rate regardless of the mass loading. The collision efficiency induced by aerodynamic interactions additionally is influenced by the radius ratio of colliding droplets and the mechanisms leading to raindrops formation and growth. In cloud-like conditions, both long- and short-range AI decrease the fraction of raindrops created by collisions between droplets (autoconversion) while promoting raindrops growth by accretion (collection by settling drops). In turn, aerodynamic interactions favor the growth of a limited number of droplets and promote the broadening of the droplet size spectrum. This effect is stronger in dilute suspensions of weakly inertial droplets, corresponding to the flow properties encountered in developing precipitation.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135304755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Equity, Inclusion, and Justice: An Opportunity for Action for AMS Publications Stakeholders","authors":"","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0135.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0135.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41849913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Diurnally Forced Tropical Gravity Waves Under Varying Stability","authors":"Ewan Short, T. Lane, C. Bishop, M. Wheeler","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0074.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0074.1","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Diurnal processes play a primary role in tropical weather. A leading hypothesis is that atmospheric gravity waves diurnally forced near coastlines propagate both offshore and inland, encouraging convection as they do so. In this study we extend the linear analytic theory of diurnally forced gravity waves, allowing for discontinuities in stability, and for linear changes in stability over a finite depth “transition-layer”. As an illustrative example, we first consider the response to a commonly studied heating function emulating diurnally oscillating coastal temperature gradients, with a low-level stability change between the boundary layer and troposphere. Gravity wave rays resembling the upper branches of “St. Andrew’s Cross” are forced along the coastline at the surface, with the stability changes inducing reflection, refraction and ducting of the individual waves comprising the rays, with analogous behaviour evident in the rays themselves. Refraction occurs smoothly in the transition-layer solution, with substantially less reflection than in the discontinuous solution. Second, we consider a new heating function which emulates an upper-level convective heating diurnal cycle, and consider stability changes associated with the tropical tropopause. Reflection, refraction and ducting again occur, with the lower branches of St. Andrew’s Cross now evident. We compare these solutions to observations taken during the Years of the Maritime Continent field campaign, noting better qualitative agreement with the transition-layer solution than the discontinuous solution, suggesting the tropopause is an even weaker gravity wave reflector than previously thought.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44601260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The two- to four-day predictability of midlatitude cyclones: Don’t sweat the small stuff","authors":"D. J. Lloveras, D. Durran, J. Doyle","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-22-0232.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-22-0232.1","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000We use convection-permitting idealized simulations of moist midlatitude cyclones to compare the growth of synoptic-scale perturbations derived from an adjoint model with the growth of equal-energy-norm, monochromatic-wavelength perturbations at the smallest resolved scale. For initial magnitudes comparable to those of initial-condition uncertainties in present-day data assimilation systems, the adjoint perturbations produce a “forecast bust”, significantly changing the intensity and location of the cyclone and its accompanying precipitation. In contrast, the small-scale-wave perturbations project strongly onto the moist convection, but the upscale growth from the random displacement of individual convective cells does not significantly alter the cyclone’s development nor its accompanying precipitation through 2–4-day lead times. Instead, the differences in convection generated at early times become negligible because the development of subsequent convection is driven by the mostly unchanged synoptic-scale flow. Reducing the perturbation magnitudes by factors of 10 and 100 demonstrates that nonlinear dynamics play an important role in the displacement of the cyclone by the full-magnitude adjoint perturbations, and that the upscale growth of small-magnitude, small-scale perturbations is too slow to significantly change the cyclone. These results suggest that a sensitive dependence on the synoptic-scale initial conditions, analogous to that of the Lorenz (1963) system, may be more relevant to 2–4-day midlatitude-cyclone forecast busts than the upscale error growth in the Lorenz (1969) model.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41954696","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jungmin M. Lee, C. Tao, W. Hannah, S. Xie, D. Bader
{"title":"Assessment of warm and dry bias over ARM SGP site in E3SMv2 and E3SM-MMF","authors":"Jungmin M. Lee, C. Tao, W. Hannah, S. Xie, D. Bader","doi":"10.1175/jas-d-23-0062.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1175/jas-d-23-0062.1","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Many climate models exhibit a dry and warm bias over the central U.S during the summer months, including the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) and its multiscale Modelling Framework (MMF) configuration. Understanding the causes of this bias is important to shine a light on this common model error and reduce the uncertainty in future projections. In this study, we use E3SMv2 and E3SM-MMF to assess how parameterized and resolved convection affect temperature and precipitation biases over the Southern Great Plains site of the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program. Both configurations overestimate near-surface temperature and underestimate precipitation at the ARM SGP site. The bias is associated with a lack of low-level clouds during days without precipitation and too much incoming solar radiation causing the surface to warm. Low-level cloud fraction in E3SM-MMF during the non-precipitating days is lower in comparison to E3SMv2 and observation, consistent with the larger warm bias. We also find that the underestimated precipitation can be characterized as “too frequent, too weak” in E3SMv2 and “too rare, too intense” in E3SM-MMF. These deficiencies conspire to sustain the warm and dry bias over the central US.","PeriodicalId":17231,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2023-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45811256","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}