Tropical convective transition statistics and casuality in the water vapor-precipitation relation

Kuo, Yi-Hung; Neelin, J. David; Mechoso, C. Roberto

doi:10.1175/JAS-D-16-0182.1

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Tropical convective transition statistics and casuality in the water vapor-precipitation relation

2017
By Kuo, Yi-Hung ; Neelin, J. David ; Mechoso, C. Roberto
Source: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 74(3), 915-931

[PDF-2.57 MB]

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Details:

Journal Title:

Journal of Atmospheric Sciences
Personal Author:

Kuo, Yi-Hung ; Neelin, J. David ; Mechoso, C. Roberto

Kuo, Yi-Hung ; Neelin, J. David ; Mechoso, C. Roberto Less -
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office)

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) Less -
Description:

Previous work by various authors has pointed to the role of lower-free-tropospheric humidity in affecting the onset of deep convection in the tropics. Empirical relationships between column water vapor (CWV) and precipitation have been inferred to result from these effects. Evidence from previous work has included deep convective conditional instability calculations for entraining plumes, in which the lower-free-tropospheric environment affects the onset of deep convection due to the differential impact on buoyancy of turbulent entrainment of dry versus moist air. The relationship between deep convection and water vapor is, however, a two-way interaction because convection also moistens the free troposphere. The present study adds an additional line of evidence toward fully establishing the causality of the precipitation–water vapor relationship. Parameter perturbation experiments using the coupled Community Earth System Model (CESM) with high-time-resolution output are analyzed for a set of statistics for the transition to deep convection, coordinated with observational diagnostics for the Green Ocean Amazon (GOAmazon) campaign and tropical western Pacific Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites. For low values of entrainment in the deep convective scheme, these statistics are radically altered and the observed pickup of precipitation with CWV is no longer seen. In addition to helping cement the dominant direction of causality in the fast-time-scale precipitation–CWV relationship, the results point to impacts of entrainment on the climatology. Because at low entrainment convection can fire before tropospheric moistening, the climatological values of relative humidity are lower than observed. These findings can be consequential to biases in simulated climate and to projections of climate change.
Keywords:

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Climatology Convection (Meteorology) Convective Clouds Models Climate Models Convective-scale Processes Convective Parameterization Deep Convection Diagnostics Entrainment
Source:

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 74(3), 915-931
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-16-0182.1
Document Type:

Journal Article
Funding:

Grant no. NA15OAR4310097 ; Grant no. NA14OAR4310274

Grant no. NA15OAR4310097 ; Grant no. NA14OAR4310274 Less -
Rights Information:

Other
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Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

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urn:sha256:48a483e33f2a25f802621bdcc1c6caea6a4b5a4e951ec5b965b8fb5168c02c82
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/28372/noaa_28372_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supplement

htm

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