Mixed-phase Convective Clouds in the Polar Marine Boundary Layer

Mixed-phase Convective Clouds in the Polar Marine Boundary Layer

Bart Geerts, University of Wyoming (PI)
Yonggang Wang, Texas Tech University (co-I)

The cold-air outbreak (CAO) cloud regime is commonly encountered over high-latitude oceans
and adjacent coastal regions when a cold air mass becomes exposed to a sufficient fetch of open water.
Cold-air outbreak clouds are generally convective, mixed-phase, and even though they are rather shallow, they can
produce heavy snowfall. Their structure is fetch-dependent, evolving from narrow bands into open or
closed cells as the marine boundary layer (MBL) deepens. Cold-air outbreak convection

convection

The rising of warm air and the sinking of cool air. Convection can cause local breezes, winds, and thunderstorms.

Source: NASA earth observatory Source

and associated marine boundary layer
circulations effectively transfer heat into an otherwise highly stratified

stratification

Stratification refers to layers in rocks, soil, large bodies of water, and the atmosphere.

Source: Study.com Source

environment and involve
interactions between sea-surface, boundary layer, cloud microphysical, and radiative processes. These
interactions remain poorly understood given the hostile environment in which these clouds occur, both
offshore and near-shore.

This proposal, a collaboration between two universities, firstly aims to describe the high-latitude
cold-air outbreak cloud regime using the array of instruments at the NSA (Barrow, Alaska) and at two mobile Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM)
sites (MARCUS 2017-18, and COMBLE 2020). These ARM data,

ARM data

Continuous field measurements of atmospheric data collected with Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) instruments at fixed and varying locations worldwide.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory Source

and the multi-sensor variables we
propose to derive, allow detailed descriptions of mesoscale

mesoscale

Size scale referring to weather systems smaller than synoptic-scale systems but larger than storm-scale systems. Horizontal dimensions generally range from around 50 miles to several hundred miles. Squall lines, MCCs, and MCSs are examples of mesoscale weather systems

Source: NOAA Source

organization of precipitation, thermodynamic
profiles, vertical velocity, cloud depth, and cloud and precipitation properties. These observations are key
for our second goal, which is to use output from validated cloud- and eddy-resolving simulations to gain
insights into the linkages between microphysical processes, the marine boundary layer vertical structure, and the marine boundary layer
dynamics that control cloud macrostructure. Specifically, the two linked objectives of this proposal are:



to document the cold-air outbreak cloud regime in three regions with DOE ARM facilities, in particular the
vertical structure of stability and shear, vertical velocity, clouds, and precipitation, in the context of
observed surface fluxes

flux

The amount of some type of particle or energy crossing a unit area per unit time.

Source: NRC Library Source

and cloud macrostructure; and



to explore the role of clouds and precipitation on the boundary-layer circulations that control the
cloud macrostructure, through high-resolution model simulations for specific cases in the three
regions, specifically focusing on the feedbacks between microphysical processes and dynamics
through the novel piggybacking technique.



Intellectual merit: Both dynamical and microphysical processes controlling shallow convection incold air masses are fundamentally different from those in warm marine boundary layer clouds, which are relatively well-documented. The cold-air outbreak cloud regime is not adequately represented in weather and climate models
because the dominant scale of vertical motion and precipitation growth is unresolved. The proposed study
is deeply anchored in observations thanks to the rich array of sensors at the NSA site and at the two
mobile ARM sites. These data, combined with well-constrained numerical simulations, enable, for the
first time, the testing of the hypothesis that cloud microphysical processes, especially precipitation,
control the mesoscale organization of the cold-air outbreak cloud regime.

Broader impact: Cold-air outbreak clouds are ubiquitous in high-latitude regions in the cold season. This
cloud regime (and thus the processes controlling it) matter, given their significance in the global climate
system, and, more generally, given the potential role that the polar regions (especially the Arctic) play in
amplifying global climate change,

climate change

A change in the average conditions — such as temperature and rainfall — in a region over a long period of time.

Source: NASA Climate Kids Source

and interacting with weather and climate in the lower latitudes (NRC
2014).