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Quantifying the circulation induced by convective clouds in kilometer-scale simulations

Oertel, Annika ORCID iD icon 1; Schemm, Sebastian
1 Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung (IMK), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

The complex coupling between the large‐scale atmospheric circulation, which is explicitly resolved in modern numerical weather and climate models, and cloud‐related diabatic processes, which are parameterized, is an important source of error in weather predictions and climate projections. To quantify the interactions between clouds and the large‐scale circulation, a method is employed that attributes a far‐ and near‐field circulation to the cloud system. The method reconstructs the cloud‐induced flow based on estimates of vorticity and divergence over a limited domain and does not require the definition of a background flow. It is subsequently applied to 12‐ and 2‐km simulations of convective clouds, which form within the large‐scale cloud band ahead of the upper‐level jet associated with an extratropical cyclone over the North Atlantic. The cloud‐induced circulation is directed against the jet, reaches up to 10 ms$^{-1}$, and compares well between both simulations. The flow direction is in agreement with what can be expected from a vorticity dipole that forms in the vicinity of the clouds. Hence, in the presence of embedded convection, the wind speed does not steadily decrease away from the jet, as it does in cloud‐free regions, but exhibits a pronounced negative anomaly, which can now be explained by the cloud‐induced circulation. ... mehr


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000130526
Veröffentlicht am 19.03.2021
Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1002/qj.3992
Scopus
Zitationen: 9
Web of Science
Zitationen: 8
Dimensions
Zitationen: 11
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO)
Universität Karlsruhe (TH) – Interfakultative Einrichtungen (Interfakultative Einrichtungen)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 04.2021
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 0035-9009, 1477-870X
KITopen-ID: 1000130526
HGF-Programm 12.11.32 (POF IV, LK 01) Advancing atmospheric and Earth system models
Erschienen in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Verlag John Wiley and Sons
Band 147
Heft 736
Seiten 1752-1766
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 01.02.2021
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
Web of Science
Dimensions
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