LES Simulations of Roll Clouds Observed During Mixed- Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment

• Main Authors: Greenberg, S.D., Harrington, J.Y., Prenni, A., DeMott, P.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; AIR FLOW; BOUNDARY LAYERS; CLOUD COVER; CLOUDS; CONVECTION; PRECIPITATION; RADIATIONS; STABILIZATION; TURBULENCE; WATER; Arctic
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/841658; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/841658

Roll clouds, and associated roll convection, are fairly common features of the atmospheric boundary layer. While these organized cumuliform clouds are found over many regions of the planet, they are quite ubiquitous near the edge of the polar ice sheets. In particular, during periods of off-ice flow, when cold polar air flows from the ice pack over the relatively warm ocean water, strong boundary layer convection develops along with frequent rolls. According to Bruemmer and Pohlman (2000), most of the total cloud cover in the Arctic is due to roll clouds. In an effort to examine the influences of mixed-phase microphysics on the boundary layer evolution of roll clouds during off-ice flow, Olsson and Harrington (2000) used a 2D mesoscale model coupled to a bulk microphysical scheme (see Section 2). Their results showed that mixed-phase clouds produced more shallow boundary layers with weaker turbulence than liquid-phase cases. Furthermore, their results showed that because of th e reduced turbulent drag on the atmosphere in the mixed-phase case, regions of mesoscale divergence in the marginal ice-zone were significantly affected. A follow-up 2D study (Harrington and Olsson 2001) showed that the reduced turbulent intensity in mixed-phase cases was due to precipitation. Ice precipitation caused downdraft stabilization which fed back and caused a reduction in the surface heat fluxes. In this work, we extend the work of Olsson and Harrington (2000) and Harrington and Olsson (2001) by examining the impacts of ice microphysics on roll convection. We will present results that illustrate how microphysics alters roll cloud structure and dynamics.