Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2009
Publication Title
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Abstract
The existence of a subsiding shell around cumulus clouds has been observed before in several aircraft measurement campaigns. Recent results from large-eddy simulations (LES) showed that the downward mass flux through the shell compensates for a significant fraction of the upward mass flux through the cloud. In this study, aeroplane measurements from the Rain In Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) field campaign are used to verify the existence of this compensating mass flux. Just as in the LES results, the in-shell downward mass flux is found to be significant. However, a few differences were found in comparison with the LES results; most of them were explained by taking into account the difference between the two-dimensional slabs in LES and the one-dimensional lines from aeroplane observations.
Repository Citation
Heus, Thijs; Pols, C. Freek J.; Jonker, Harmen J.J.; Van den Akker, Harry E.A.; and Lenschow, Donald H., "Observational Validation of The Compensating Mass Flux Through The Shell Around Cumulus Clouds" (2009). Physics Faculty Publications. 223.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/sciphysics_facpub/223
DOI
10.1002/qj.358
Version
Postprint
Publisher's Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Thijs Heus et al., "Observational validation of the compensating mass flux through the shell around cumulus clouds," Q.J.R.Meteorol.Soc. 135 (638), 101-112 (2009), which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/qj.358/pdf
Volume
135
Issue
638
