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| Titel |
On clocks and clouds |
| VerfasserIn |
M. K. Witte, P. Y. Chuang, G. Feingold |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1680-7316
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 14, no. 13 ; Nr. 14, no. 13 (2014-07-03), S.6729-6738 |
| Datensatznummer |
250118859
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/acp-14-6729-2014.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Cumulus clouds exhibit a life cycle that consists of (a) the growth phase
(increasing size, most notably in the vertical direction); (b) the mature
phase (growth ceases; any precipitation that develops is strongest during
this period); and (c) the dissipation phase (cloud dissipates because of
precipitation and/or entrainment; no more dynamical support). Although radar
can track clouds over time and give some sense of the age of a cloud, most
aircraft in situ measurements lack temporal context. We use large eddy
simulations of trade wind cumulus cloud fields from cases during the Barbados
Oceanographic and Meteorological Experiment (BOMEX) and Rain In Cumulus over
the Ocean (RICO) campaigns to demonstrate a potential cumulus cloud
"clock." We find that the volume-averaged total water mixing ratio rt
is a useful cloud clock for the 12 clouds studied. A cloud's initial rt
is set by the subcloud mixed-layer mean rt and decreases monotonically
from the initial value due primarily to entrainment. The clock is insensitive
to aerosol loading, environmental sounding and extrinsic cloud properties
such as lifetime and volume. In some cases (more commonly for larger clouds),
multiple pulses of buoyancy occur, which complicate the cumulus clock by
replenishing rt. The clock is most effectively used to classify clouds
by life phase. |
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