Evaporative and Radiative Cooling in POST Stratocumulus

Buoyancy reversal by evaporative cooling in entrainment holes has a minimal influence on stratocumulus (Sc) observed during the Physics of Stratocumulus Top (POST) aircraft field study held off the California coast in 2008. High-resolution temperature and microphysics measurements show only small di...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the atmospheric sciences 2016-10, Vol.73 (10), p.3877-3884
Main Authors: Gerber, H., Malinowski, Szymon P., Jonsson, Haflidi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aircraft
Atmosphere
Buoyancy
Clouds
Coastal environments
Cooling
Dilution
Entrainment
Evaporation
Evaporative cooling
Free atmosphere
High resolution
Microphysics
Physics
Reduction
Studies
Temperature effects
Water
Wind shear
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Buoyancy reversal by evaporative cooling in entrainment holes has a minimal influence on stratocumulus (Sc) observed during the Physics of Stratocumulus Top (POST) aircraft field study held off the California coast in 2008. High-resolution temperature and microphysics measurements show only small differences for Sc with and without buoyancy reversal predicted by mixing fraction analysis that relates mixtures of cloudy air and free-atmospheric air to buoyancies of the mixtures. The reduction of LWC due to evaporation in the holes is a small percentage (average ~12%) of liquid water diluted in the Sc by entrainment from the entrainment interface layer (EIL) located above unbroken cloud top where most mixing, evaporation, and reduction of the large buoyancy jump between the cloud and free atmosphere occur. Entrainment is dominated by radiative cooling at cloud top.
ISSN:0022-4928
1520-0469
DOI:10.1175/JAS-D-16-0023.1