A Lagrangian study of interfaces at the edges of cumulus clouds
File(s)Lagrangian_Paper.pdf (12.54 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Nair, Vishnu
Heus, Thijs
van Reeuwijk, Maarten
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Interfaces at the edge of an idealised, non-precipitating, warm cloud are studied using Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) complemented with a Lagrangian particle tracking routine. Once a shell has formed, four zones can be distinguished: the cloud core, visible shell, invisible shell and the environment. The union of the visible and invisible regions is the shell commonly referred to in literature. The boundary between the invisible shell and the environment is the Turbulent-NonTurbulent Interface (TNTI) which is typically not considered in cloud studies. Three million particles were seeded homogeneously across the domain and properties were recorded along individual trajectories. The results demonstrate that the traditional cloud boundary (separating cloudy and non-cloudy regions using thresholds applied on liquid condensate or updraft velocity) are some distance away from the TNTI. Furthermore, there is no dynamic difference between the traditional liquid-condensate boundary and the region extending to the TNTI. However, particles crossing the TNTI exhibit a sharp jump in enstrophy and a smooth increase in buoyancy. The traditional cloud boundary coincides with the location of minimum buoyancy in the shell. The shell pre-mixes the entraining and detraining air and analysis reveals a highly skewed picture of entrainment and detrainment at the traditional cloud boundary. A preferential entrainment of particles with velocity and specific humidity higher than the mean values in the shell is observed. Large-eddy simulation of a more realistic setup detects an interface with similar properties using the same thresholds as in the DNS, indicating that the DNS results extrapolate beyond their idealised conditions.
Date Issued
2021-04-30
Date Acceptance
2021-04-01
Citation
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 2021, 78 (8), pp.2397-2412
ISSN
0022-4928
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Start Page
2397
End Page
2412
Journal / Book Title
Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Volume
78
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2021 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright
Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).
B
Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).
B
Sponsor
Commission of the European Communities
Identifier
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atsc/aop/JAS-D-20-0170.1/JAS-D-20-0170.1.xml
Grant Number
675675
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Buoyancy
Convective clouds
Entrainment
Lagrangian circulation
transport
Turbulence
Updrafts
downdrafts
FLUX CONVECTION SCHEME
LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION
SUBSIDING SHELLS
MASS
BOUNDARY
LAYERS
PARAMETERIZATION
ENTRAINMENT
CIRCULATION
ENSEMBLE
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
0401 Atmospheric Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-04-30