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Mechanisms of convective cloud organization by cold pools over tropical warm ocean during the AMIE/DYNAMO field campaign

ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

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Title Mechanisms of convective cloud organization by cold pools over tropical warm ocean during the AMIE/DYNAMO field campaign
Names Feng, Zhe (creator)
Hagos, Samson (creator)
Rowe, Angela K. (creator)
Burleyson, Casey D. (creator)
Martini, Matus N. (creator)
de Szoeke, Simon P. (creator)
Date Issued 2015-06 (iso8601)
Note The DYNAMO field campaign data used in this paper is available at NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory's DYNAMO Data Catalogue https://www.eol.ucar.edu/field_projects/dynamo. The data set names are: R/V Roger Revelle Flux, Near-Surface Meteorology, and Navigation Data and S-PolKa Radar, fully corrected, merged, final moments data in cfRadial format.
Abstract This paper investigates the mechanisms of convective cloud organization by precipitation-driven
cold pools over the warm tropical Indian Ocean during the 2011 Atmospheric Radiation
Measurement (ARM) Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) Investigation Experiment/Dynamics of the MJO
(AMIE/DYNAMO) field campaign. A high-resolution regional model simulation is performed using the
Weather Research and Forecasting model during the transition from suppressed to active phases of the
November 2011 MJO. The simulated cold pool lifetimes, spatial extent, and thermodynamic properties
agree well with the radar and ship-borne observations from the field campaign. The thermodynamic and
dynamic structures of the outflow boundaries of isolated and intersecting cold pools in the simulation and
the associated secondary cloud populations are examined. Intersecting cold pools last more than twice as
long, are twice as large, 41% more intense (measured with buoyancy), and 62% deeper than isolated cold
pools. Consequently, intersecting cold pools trigger 73% more convection than do isolated ones. This is due
to stronger outflows that enhance secondary updraft velocities by up to 45%. However, cold pool-triggered
convective clouds grow into deep convection not because of the stronger secondary updrafts at cloud
base, but rather due to closer spacing (aggregation) between clouds and larger cloud clusters that form
along the cold pool boundaries when they intersect. The close spacing of large clouds moistens the local
environment and reduces entrainment drying, increasing the probability that the clouds further develop
into deep convection. Implications for the design of future convective parameterization with cold pool-modulated
entrainment rates are discussed.
Genre Article
Access Condition http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/
Identifier Feng, Z., Hagos, S., Rowe, A. K., Burleyson, C. D., Martini, M. N., & de Szoeke, S. P. (2015). Mechanisms of convective cloud organization by cold pools over tropical warm ocean during the AMIE/DYNAMO field campaign. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 7(2), 357-381. doi:10.1002/2014MS000384

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