Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2008
Publication Title
Geophysical Research Letters
Abstract
The purpose of this letter is to show that the traditional view of transport by shallow cumulus clouds needs important refinement. On the basis of a straightforward geometrical analysis of Large Eddy Simulation results of shallow cumulus clouds, we conclude (1) that the upward mass transport by clouds is strongly dominated by regions close to the edge of clouds rather than by the core region of clouds and (2) that the downward mass transport is dominated by processes just outside the cloud. The latter finding contradicts the accepted view of a uniformly descending dry environment. We therefore advocate a refined view which distinguishes between the near-cloud environment and the distant environment. The near-cloud environment is characterized by coherent descending motions, whereas the distant environment is rather quiescent and plays no significant role in vertical transport.
Repository Citation
Jonker, Harmen J.J.; Heus, Thijs; and Sullivan, Peter P., "A Refined View of Vertical Mass Transport by Cumulus Convection" (2008). Physics Faculty Publications. 227.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/sciphysics_facpub/227
DOI
10.1029/2007GL032606
Version
Publisher's PDF
Publisher's Statement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Volume
35
Issue
7
