Representations of boundary layer cloudiness and surface wind probability distributions in subtropical marine stratus and stratocumulus regions

Abstract

Representations of Boundary Layer Cloudiness and Surface Wind Probability Distributions in Subtropical Marine Stratus and Stratocumulus Regions

Yanping He

153 pages

Directed by Dr. Robert E. Dickinson

A simple low cloud cover scheme is developed for the subtropical marine stratus and stratocumulus (MSC) regions. It is based on a modified CIN concept named the Lower Troposphere Available Dry Inhibition Energy (ADIN). The e-folder time for the local change of ADIN is found to be approximately 6 to 7 hours. On monthly and longer timescales, local productions of ADIN are balanced by local destructions of ADIN within lower troposphere. Dynamical transport of environmental dry static energy and surface evaporation lead to the variations of cloud top radiative cooling, which is a linear function of low cloud cover. Data analysis suggests that total ADIN dynamical transport plays the most important role in determining the seasonal variations and spatial variations of low cloud amounts¡£

The new scheme produces realistic seasonal and spatial variations of both EECRA ship observation and satellite observations in all MSC regions. It explains 25% more covariance than that using Klein-Hartmann (KH) scheme for monthly ISCCP low cloud amount near the Peruvian and Canarian region during the period from 1985 to 1997£¬it better represents the relationship between ENSO index and low cloud cover variations near the Peruvian region. When implemented into NCAR CAM3.1, it systematically reduces the model biases in the summertime spatial variations of low cloud amount and downward solar radiation in the Peruvian, California, and Canarian regions. Model simulated summertime cloud liquid water path, large scale precipitation, and surface fluxes are also significantly changed.

A single predictor named Lower troposphere available thermal inhibition energy (ATIN) is also shown to be more skillful than the lower tropospheric stability in diagnosing low cloud stratiform clouds in the monthly and seasonal timescales. On synoptic timescale, dynamical transport of available dry inhibition energy and surface evaporation are better correlated with marine low cloud amount variations than ATIN and lower troposphere stability.

The influence of boundary layer clouds, ocean surface SST, and large scale divergence on the stochastic dynamics of local ocean surface winds are addressed using QuikSCAT and AIRS satellite observations and a simple conceptual model in the southeast Pacific. The ocean surface pressure gradient depends on both the boundary layer height and temperature inversion strength. Marine boundary clouds are diagnosed using the cloud cover scheme developed in Chapter 2. The model successfully reproduces the observed mean state, the standard deviation, and skewness of local surface wind speeds in the southeast Pacific.