Identification

Title

Impacts of updraft size and dimensionality on the perturbation pressure and vertical velocity in cumulus convection. Part II: Comparison of theoretical and numerical solutions and fully dynamical simulations

Abstract

This paper compares simple theoretical expressions relating vertical velocity, perturbation pressure, updraft size, and dimensionality for cumulus convection, derived in Part I, with numerical solutions of the anelastic buoyant perturbation pressure Poisson equation and vertical velocity w. A range of thermal buoyancy profiles representing shallow to deep moist convection are tested for both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) updrafts. The theoretical expressions give similar results for w and perturbation pressure difference from updraft top to base Δp compared to the numerical solutions over a wide range of updraft radius R. The theoretical expressions are also consistent with 2D and 3D fully dynamical updraft simulations initiated by warm bubbles of varying width. Implications for nonhydrostatic modeling in the "gray zone," with a horizontal grid spacing Δx of O(1-10) km where convection is generally underresolved, are discussed. The theoretical and numerical solutions give a scaling of updraft velocity with R (~Δx) consistent with fully dynamical 2D and 3D simulations in the gray zone, with a rapid decrease of maximum w at relatively small R and a slower decrease at large R. These results suggest that an incorrect representation of perturbation pressure may be an important contributor to biases in convective strength at these resolutions. The theoretical solutions also provide a concise physical interpretation of the "virtual mass" coefficient in convection parameterizations and can be easily incorporated into these schemes to provide a consistent scaling of perturbation pressure effects with R, updraft height, and the buoyancy profile.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7z60qn3

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-04-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2016 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact