From sugar to flowers: A transition of shallow cumulus organization during ATOMIC

Narenpitak, Pornampai; Kazil, Jan; Yamaguchi, Takanobu; Quinn, Patricia; Feingold, Graham

doi:10.1029/2021MS002619

i

From sugar to flowers: A transition of shallow cumulus organization during ATOMIC

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2021
By Narenpitak, Pornampai ; Kazil, Jan ; Yamaguchi, Takanobu ; ...
Series: PMEL contribution 5239

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Journal Title:

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Personal Author:

Narenpitak, Pornampai ; Kazil, Jan ; Yamaguchi, Takanobu ; Quinn, Patricia ; Feingold, Graham
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CSL (Chemical Sciences Laboratory) ; CPO (Climate Program Office) ; PMEL (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

The Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign (ATOMIC) took place in January–February, 2020. It was designed to understand the relationship between shallow convection and the large-scale environment in the trade-wind regime. A Lagrangian large eddy simulation, following the trajectory of a boundary-layer airmass, can reproduce a transition of trade cumulus organization from “sugar” to “flower” clouds with cold pools, observed on February 2–3. The simulation is driven with reanalysis large-scale meteorology, and in-situ aerosol data from ATOMIC and its joint field study EUREC4A. During the transition, large-scale upward motion deepens the cloud layer. The total water path and optical depth increase, especially in the moist regions where flowers aggregate. This is due to mesoscale circulation that renders a net convergence of total water in the already moist and cloudy regions, strengthening the organization. An additional simulation shows that stronger large scale upward motion reinforces the mesoscale circulation and accelerates the organization process by strengthening the cloud-layer mesoscale buoyant turbulence kinetic energy production.
Keywords:

Aerosols Clouds Eddies Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign (ATOMIC)
Source:

Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13, e2021MS002619
Series:

PMEL contribution ; 5239
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002619
Document Type:

Journal Article
Rights Information:

CC BY-NC-ND
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Submitted
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urn:sha256:620c0f71f8494e1ce4fd771c6e6ef2ab615ea8cf5000b0b5cb26c67b33312c96
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https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/40504/noaa_40504_DS1.pdf
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[PDF - 5.80 MB ]

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