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NASA NTRS1990

Boundary layer roll circulations during FIRE

The probable mechanism underlying the development of boundary layer roll circulations are studied using wind and temperature profiles measured by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Electra during the stratocumulus phase of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE). The expected, or preferred, roll orientations, horizontal wavelengths, and propagation periods are determined by finding the minimum values of the dynamic and thermodynamic forcing parameters, which here are the eddy Reynolds number (Re) and moist Rayleigh number (Ra sub m). These minimum values depend on the height z sub T of the capping temperature inversion and on the values of the Fourier coefficients of the background height-dependent vector wind profile. As input to our nonlinear spectral model, descent and ascent runs by the Electra provide for initial estimates of the inversion height and the wind profiles. In the first phase of the investigation presented here, a mechanism is said to be a probable contributor to the development of roll circulations within the stratocumulus-topped boundary layer if the modeled roll orientation and wavelengths agree with their observed values. Preliminary results using the 14-coefficient model of Haack-Hirschberg (1988) are discussed for the 7 July 1987 Electra Mission 188-A (Flight 5). This mission was flown across a sharp cloud boundary that was within a LANDSAT/SPOT scene. The stratocumulus deck was relatively solid in the eastern part of the scene, while there was a rapid decrease in cloud cover to scattered cumulus clouds aligned in streets to the west. These cloud streets were oriented nearly parallel to the mean wind direction in the layer, which was approximately 340 degrees. The hypothesis that roll circulations occurred in both the relatively clear and the cloudy regions is investigated using as model input a descent profile obtained in the relatively clear air and an ascent profile obtained in the cloudy air. Initial results for the clear air case are that the pure inflection point mode is not possible and the pure thermal mode was oriented 35 degrees to the right of the mean wind direction. The origin of this unacceptably large discrepancy between the observed and modeled results will be investigated further and the conclusions reported at the next FIRE workshop.

Shirer, Hampton N.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Structures observed on the spot radiance fields during the FIRE experiment

Three Spot images taken during the FIRE experiment on stratocumulus are analyzed. From this high resolution data detailed observations of the true cloud radiance field may be made. The structure and inhomogeneity of these radiance fields hold important implications for the radiation budget, while the fine scale structure in radiance field provides information on cloud dynamics. Wieliki and Welsh, and Parker et al., have quantified the inhomogeneities of the cumulus clouds through a careful examination of the distribution of cloud (and hole) size as functions of an effective cloud diameter and radiance threshold. Cahalan (1988) has compared for different cloud types of (stratocumulus, fair weather cumulus, convective clouds in the ITCZ) the distributions of clouds (and holes) sizes, the relation between the size and the perimeter of these clouds (and holes), and examining the possibility of scale invariance. These results are extended from LANDSAT resolution (57 m and 30 m) to the Spot resolution (10 m) resolution in the case of boundary layer clouds. Particular emphasis is placed on the statistics of zones of high and low reflectivity as a function of a threshold reflectivity.

Seze, Genevieve↗
NASA NTRS2021

An Overview of Atmospheric Features Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean and North American East Coast – Part 2: Circulation, Boundary Layer, and Clouds

The Western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) is a complex land-ocean-atmosphere system that experiences a broad range of atmospheric phenomena, which in turn drive unique aerosol transport pathways, cloud morphologies, and boundary layer variability. This work, Part 2 of a 2-part paper series, provides an overview of the atmospheric circulation, boundary layer variability, three-dimensional cloud structure, and precipitation over the WNAO; the companion paper (Part 1) focused on chemical characterization of aerosols, gases, and wet deposition.Seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and sea surface temperature explain a clear transition in cloud morphologies from small shallow cumulus clouds, convective clouds, and tropical storms in summer, to stratus/stratocumulus and multi-layer cloud systems associated with winter storms. Synoptic variability in cloud fields is estimated using satellite-based weather states, and the role of postfrontal conditions (cold-air outbreaks) in the development of stratiform clouds is further analyzed. Precipitation is persistent over the ocean, with a regional peak over the Gulf Stream path, where offshore sea surface temperature gradients are large and surface fluxes reach a regional peak. Satellite data show a clear annual cycle in cloud droplet number concentration with maxima (minima) along the coast in winter (summer), suggesting a marked annual cycle in aerosol-cloud interactions. Compared with satellite cloud retrievals, four climate models qualitatively reproduce the annual cycle in cloud cover and liquid water path, but with large discrepancies across models, especially in the extra-tropics. The paper concludes with a summary of outstanding issues and recommendations for future work.

David Painemal↗
NASA NTRS1994

Roles of drizzle in a one-dimensional third-order turbulence closure model of the nocturnal stratus-topped marine boundary layer

This study focuses on the effects of drizzle in a one-dimensional third-order turbulence closure model of the nocturnal stratus-topped marine boundary layer. When the simulated drizzle rate is relatively small (maximum approximately equal to 0.6 mm/day), steady-state solutions are obtained. The boundary layer stabilizes essentially because drizzle causes evaporative cooling of the subcloud layer. This stabilization considerably reduces the buoyancy flux and turbulence kinetic energy below the stratus cloud. Thus, drizzle tends to decouple the cloud from the subcloud layer in the model, as suggested by many observational studies. In addition, the evaporation of drizzle in the subcloud layer creates small scattered clouds, which are likely to represent cumulus clouds, below the solid stratus cloud in the model. The sensitivity experiments show that these scattered clouds help maintain a coupled boundary layer. When the drizzle rate is relatively large (maximum approximately equal to 0.9 mm/day), the response of the model becomes transient with bursts in turbulent fluxes. This phenomenon is related to the formation of the scattered cloud layer below the solid stratus cloud. It appears that the model is inadequate to represent the heat and moisture transport by strong updrafts covering a small fractional area in cumulus convection.

Wang, Shouping↗
NASA NTRS2022

Cloud Adjustments From Large-Scale Smoke–Circulation Interactions Strongly Modulate the Southeastern Atlantic Stratocumulus-to-Cumulus Transition

Smoke from southern Africa blankets the southeastern Atlantic Ocean from June to October, producing strong and competing aerosol radiative effects. Smoke effects on the transition between overcast stratocumulus and scattered cumulus clouds are investigated along a Lagrangian (air-mass-following) trajectory in regional climate and large eddy simulation models. Results are compared with observations from three recent field campaigns that took place in August 2017: ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES), CLouds and Aerosol Radiative Impacts and Forcing: Year 2017 (CLARIFY), and Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds (LASIC). The case study is set up around the joint ORACLES–CLARIFY flight that took place near Ascension Island on 18 August 2017. Smoke sampled upstream on an ORACLES flight on 15 August 2017 likely entrained into the marine boundary layer later sampled during the joint flight. The case is first simulated with the WRF-CAM5 regional climate model in three distinct setups: (1) FireOn, in which smoke emissions and any resulting smoke–cloud–radiation interactions are included; (2) FireOff, in which no smoke emissions are included; (3) RadOff, in which smoke emissions and their microphysical effects are included but aerosol does not interact directly with radiation. Over the course of the Lagrangian trajectory, differences in free tropospheric thermodynamic properties between FireOn and FireOff are nearly identical to those between FireOn and RadOff, showing that aerosol–radiation interactions are primarily responsible for the free tropospheric effects. These effects are non-intuitive: in addition to the expected heating within the core of the smoke plume, there is also a “banding” effect of cooler temperature (∼1–2 K) and greatly enhanced moisture (>2 g kg−1) at the plume top. This banding effect is caused by a vertical displacement of the former continental boundary layer in the free troposphere in the FireOn simulation resulting from anomalous diabatic heating due to smoke absorption of sunlight that manifests primarily as a few hundred meters per day reduction in large-scale subsidence over the ocean. A large eddy simulation (LES) is then forced with free tropospheric fields taken from the outputs for the WRF-CAM5 FireOn and FireOff runs. Cases are run by selectively perturbing one variable (e.g., aerosol number concentration, temperature, moisture, vertical velocity) at a time to better understand the contributions from different indirect (microphysical), “large-scale” semi-direct (above-cloud thermodynamic and subsidence changes), and “local” semi-direct (below-cloud smoke absorption) effects. Despite a more than 5-fold increase in cloud droplet number concentration when including smoke aerosol concentrations, minimal differences in cloud fraction evolution are simulated by the LES when comparing the base case with a perturbed aerosol case with identical thermodynamic and dynamic forcings. A factor of 2 decrease in background free tropospheric aerosol concentrations from the FireOff simulation shifts the cloud evolution from a classical entrainment-driven “deepening–warming” transition to trade cumulus to a precipitation-driven “drizzle-depletion” transition to open cells, however. The thermodynamic and dynamic changes caused by the WRF-simulated large-scale adjustments to smoke diabatic heating strongly influence cloud evolution in terms of both the rate of deepening (especially for changes in the inversion temperature jump and in subsidence) and in cloud fraction on the final day of the simulation (especially for the moisture “banding” effect). Such large-scale semi-direct effects would not have been possible to simulate using a small-domain LES model alone.

southeast Atlantic Ocean↗
NASA NTRS1981

Methods of editing cloud and atmospheric layer affected pixels from satellite data

The location and migration of cloud, land and water features were examined in spectral space (reflective VIS vs. emissive IR). Daytime HCMM data showed two distinct types of cloud affected pixels in the south Texas test area. High altitude cirrus and/or cirrostratus and "subvisible cirrus" (SCi) reflected the same or only slightly more than land features. In the emissive band, the digital counts ranged from 1 to over 75 and overlapped land features. Pixels consisting of cumulus clouds, or of mixed cumulus and landscape, clustered in a different area of spectral space than the high altitude cloud pixels. Cumulus affected pixels were more reflective than land and water pixels. In August the high altitude clouds and SCi were more emissive than similar clouds were in July. Four-channel TIROS-N data were examined with the objective of developing a multispectral screening technique for removing SCi contaminated data.

Nixon, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Simulations using a 3D-moment turbulence closure in a two-dimensional cloud model - Comparisons with observations

A method for deep cumulus cloud simulations is presented, in which the plumes or clouds are simulated using a two-dimensional axisymmetric numerical cloud model with third-moment turbulence closure. This method is based on the assumption that the only uncertainty in the turbulence closure is in the turbulent length scale specification. Therefore, the length scale is varied, and, using different length scales, the simulated plumes are compared to the observed ones, making it possible to optimize the length scale prescription.

Krueger, Steven K.↗
NASA NTRS1965

Experimental cumulus dynamics.

Cumulus cloud models improved by data obtained via actual aircraft silver iodide seeding in Project Stormfury

TROPICAL METEOROLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2004

Heterogeneous Chemistry Involving Methanol in Tropospheric Clouds

In this report we analyze airborne measurements to suggest that methanol in biomass burning smoke is lost heterogeneously in clouds. When a smoke plume intersected a cumulus cloud during the SAFARI 2000 field project, the observed methanol gas phase concentration rapidly declined. Current understanding of gas and aqueous phase chemistry cannot explain the loss of methanol documented by these measurements. Two plausible heterogeneous reactions are proposed to explain the observed simultaneous loss and production of methanol and formaldehyde, respectively. If the rapid heterogeneous processing of methanol, seen in a cloud impacted by smoke, occurs in more pristine clouds, it could affect the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere on a global scale.

Tabazadeh, A.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The effect of spatial resolution upon cloud optical property retrievals. I - Optical thickness

High spectral and spatial resolution Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) imagery is used to study the effects of spatial resolution upon fair weather cumulus cloud optical thickness retrievals. As a preprocessing step, a variation of the Gao and Goetz three-band ratio technique is used to discriminate clouds from the background. The combination of the elimination of cloud shadow pixels and using the first derivative of the histogram allows for accurate cloud edge discrimination. The data are progressively degraded from 20 m to 960 m spatial resolution. The results show that retrieved cloud area increases with decreasing spatial resolution. The results also show that there is a monotonic decrease in retrieved cloud optical thickness with decreasing spatial resolution. It is also demonstrated that the use of a single, monospectral reflectance threshold is inadequate for identifying cloud pixels in fair weather cumulus scenes and presumably in any inhomogeneous cloud field. Cloud edges have a distribution of reflectance thresholds. The incorrect identification of cloud edges significantly impacts the accurate retrieval of cloud optical thickness values.

Feind, Rand E.↗
NASA NTRS1973

IR spectrophotometry of Jupiter and Saturn

High spatial resolution spectrophotometric observations (from 0.6 to 2.0 microns) are used to study the Jovian and Saturnian limb darkening at 0 deg phase angle. The limb-darkening coefficients (k) of the Minnaert function are 1.0 over Jupiter's entire disk and between 0.75 and 0.90 for different latitudes on Saturn. These data are used to derive geometric albedoes (G) for the various belts, zones, spots, and regions observed on Jupiter and Saturn. These values of G and k are in turn used to show that an isotropic scattering model is invalid for Jupiter and that at least an asymmetric scattering function, such as the Euler function, is needed to fit the Jovian data. The Jovian scattering function is found to generally vary between 0.960 (1 + 0.85 cos theta) and 0.994 (1 + 0.42 cos theta) as a function of wavelength and the feature observed. The Saturn geometric albedoes and values of k indicate that Euler's function fails to adequately model the scattering properties of Saturnian clouds; they may be better represented by a cumulus cloud model.

Binder, A. B.↗
NASA NTRS1955

Statistical Survey of Icing Data Measured on Scheduled Airline Flights over the United States and Canada from November 1951 to June 1952

A statistical survey and a preliminary analysis are made of icing data collected from scheduled flights over the United States and Canada from November 1951 to June 1952 by airline aircraft equipped with NACA pressure-type icing-rate meters. This interim report presents information obtained from a continuing program sponsored by the NACA with the cooperation of the airlines. An analysis of over 600 icing encounters logged by three airlines operating in the United States, one operating in Canada and one operating up the coast to Alaska, is presented. The icing conditions encountered provided relative frequencies of many icing-cloud variables, such as horizontal extent, vertical thickness, temperatures, icing rate, liquid-water content, and total ice accumulation. Liquid-water contents were higher than data from earlier research flights in layer-type clouds but slightly lower than previous data from cumulus clouds. Broken-cloud conditions, indicated by intermittent icing, accounted for nearly one-half of all the icing encounters. About 90 percent of the encounters did not exceed a distance of 120 miles, and continuous icing did not exceed 50 miles for 90 percent of the unbroken conditions. Icing cloud thicknesses measured during climbs and descents were less than 4500 feet for 90 percent of the vertical cloud traverses.

Perkins, Porter J↗
NASA NTRS1973

Ground based planetary research

High spatial resolution spectrophotometric observations made in the wavelength region lambda lambda 0.6 - 2.0 micrometers are used to study the Jovian and Saturnian limb darkening. Limb darkening coefficients (k) of the Minnaert function are derived for the cloud layers of both planets. A value of k = 1.0 is found for Jupiter over the entire disk while values of between 0.75 and 0.90 are found for different latitudes for Saturn. These data are used to derive geometric albedoes (G) for the various belts, zones, spots and regions observed on Jupiter and Saturn. These values of G and k are in turn used to show that an isotropic scattering model is invalid for Jupiter and that at least an asymmetric scattering function, such as the Euler function, is needed to fit the Jovian data. The Jovian scattering function is found to generally vary between 0.960 and 0.994 as a function of wavelength and the feature observed. The Saturn geometric albedoes and values of k indicate that Euler's function fails to adequately model the scattering properties of the Saturnian clouds. As a result it is suggested that simple scattering theory may not apply to the Saturn clouds or that they are better represented by a cumulus cloud model.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1983

Cumulus role in tropical circulations

The present investigation is concerned with the effects of cumulus clouds upon their surroundings, and the interaction of the cumulus scale of motion with the larger scales of motion in the tropics. Charney and Eliassen (1964) have conducted a study of the growth of the hurricane depression and proposed the CISK (Conditional Instability of the Second Kind) mechanism. The CISK concept was used in several of the pioneering models of hurricanes and tropical disturbances. Since the 1960's, the CISK concept has been generalized and extended. However, the feedback between convection and the large-scale flow is still positive. In the present investigation the philosophy is extended to a negative feedback which contributes to the stability (mainly in direction) of the trade winds. Attention is given to the classical Ekman layer and early CISK, cumulus momentum transports, the role of cumuli in the trade-wind moisture and heat budgets, the trade wind model, and the equatorial trough and hot tower hypothesis.

Simpson, J.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Automated cloud base height determination from high resolution Landsat data - A Hough transform approach

A direct method for determining the cloud base height derived from the displacement of the shadow from the cloud, and the solar azimuth and zenith angle is presented. Cumulus cloud scenes over land from Landsat MSS imagery are considered. The clouds are first matched with the corresponding shadows; the pixel distance of a reference point in the cloud is computed from the corresponding reference point in the shadow; and then the solar zenith angle is used to compute the cloud base height. Observations indicate that the cloud base height appears to be size-dependent with larger clouds generally associated with higher cloud bases and that clouds within the same size range and within the same scene region are approximately of the same height.

Sengupta, S. K.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Underestimation of Deep Convective Cloud Tops by Thermal Imagery

The most common method of ascertaining cloud heights from space is from thermal brightness temperatures. Deep cumulus clouds of high water content are expected to radiate as black bodies. Here, cloud tops are estimated from several sensors: GOES-8, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Moderate resolution Imaging Sensor (MISR), and the Goddard Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL), all collected during the CRYSTAL Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE). Thermally derived cloud tops are consistently approx. 1km too low compared with independent measurements, no matter how thick the clouds are, even when the finite optical extinctions near cloud top and in thin overlying cirrus are taken into account. The bias appears to get worse for the tallest clouds. Cloud material is often present 2 km or more above the apparent cloud top. This mysterious discrepancy appears to be satellite-independent.

Sherwood, Steven C.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Simulation of Boundary-Layer Cumulus and Stratocumulus Clouds using a Cloud-Resolving Model With Low- and Third-Order Turbulence Closures

The effects of subgrid-scale condensation and transport become more important as the grid spacings increase from those typically used in large-eddy simulation (LES) to those typically used in cloud-resolving models (CRMs). Incorporation of these effects can be achieved by a joint probability density function approach that utilizes higher-order moments of thermodynamic and dynamic variables. This study examines how well shallow cumulus and stratocumulus clouds are simulated by two versions of a CRM that is implemented with low-order and third-order turbulence closures (LOC and TOC) when a typical CRM horizontal resolution is used and what roles the subgrid-scale and resolved-scale processes play as the horizontal grid spacing of the CRM becomes finer. Cumulus clouds were mostly produced through subgrid-scale transport processes while stratocumulus clouds were produced through both subgrid-scale and resolved-scale processes in the TOC version of the CRM when a typical CRM grid spacing is used. The LOC version of the CRM relied upon resolved-scale circulations to produce both cumulus and stratocumulus clouds, due to small subgrid-scale transports. The mean profiles of thermodynamic variables, cloud fraction and liquid water content exhibit significant differences between the two versions of the CRM, with the TOC results agreeing better with the LES than the LOC results. The characteristics, temporal evolution and mean profiles of shallow cumulus and stratocumulus clouds are weakly dependent upon the horizontal grid spacing used in the TOC CRM. However, the ratio of the subgrid-scale to resolved-scale fluxes becomes smaller as the horizontal grid spacing decreases. The subcloud-layer fluxes are mostly due to the resolved scales when a grid spacing less than or equal to 1 km is used. The overall results of the TOC simulations suggest that a 1-km grid spacing is a good choice for CRM simulation of shallow cumulus and stratocumulus.

Xu, Kuan-Man↗