The NOAA IR serves as an archival repository of NOAA-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by NOAA or funded partners.
As a repository, the NOAA IR retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
i
Investigating the Fast Response of Precipitation Intensity and Boundary Layer Temperature to Atmospheric Heating Using a Cloud‐Resolving Model
-
2019
-
Source: Geophysical Research Letters, 46(15), 9183-9192
[PDF-901.16 KB]
Details:
-
Journal Title:Geophysical Research Letters
-
Personal Author:
-
NOAA Program & Office:
-
Description:Coarse‐resolution global climate models cannot explicitly resolve the intensity distribution of tropical precipitation and how it responds to a forcing. We use a cloud‐resolving model to study how imposed atmospheric radiative heating (such as that caused by greenhouse gases or absorbing aerosols) may alter precipitation intensity in the setting of radiative‐convective equilibrium. It is found that the decrease in total precipitation is realized through preferentially reducing weak events. The intensity of strong precipitation events is maintained by a cancellation between the moistening of air parcels and weakening of updrafts. A boundary layer energy budget analysis suggests that free‐tropospheric heating raises boundary layer temperatures mainly through a reduction in rain reevaporation. This insight leads to a predictive scaling for the surface sensible and latent flux changes. The results imply that cloud microphysical processes play a key role in shaping the temperature and precipitation responses to atmospheric heating.
-
Keywords:
-
Source:Geophysical Research Letters, 46(15), 9183-9192
-
DOI:
-
ISSN:0094-8276;1944-8007;
-
Format:
-
Publisher:
-
Document Type:
-
License:
-
Rights Information:CC BY
-
Compliance:Library
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type:
