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Simulating mixed-phase open cellular clouds observed during COMBLE: Evaluation of parameterized turbulence closure
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  • Timothy W Juliano,
  • Christian Philipp Lackner,
  • Bart Geerts,
  • Branko Kosovic,
  • Lulin Xue,
  • Peng Wu,
  • Joseph Olson
Timothy W Juliano
National Center for Atmospheric Research

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Christian Philipp Lackner
University of Wyoming
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Bart Geerts
University of Wyoming
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Branko Kosovic
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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Lulin Xue
National Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
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Peng Wu
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
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Joseph Olson
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
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Abstract

Marine cold-air outbreaks, or CAOs, are airmass transformations whereby relatively cold boundary layer (BL) air is transported over relatively warm water. Such convectively-driven conditions are rather ubiquitous in the high-latitudes, occurring most frequently during the winter and spring. To more deeply understand BL and cloud properties during CAO conditions, the Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE) took place from late 2019 into early 2020. During COMBLE, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) first Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility (AMF1) was deployed to Andenes, Norway, far downstream (~1000 km) from the Arctic pack ice. This study examines the two most intense CAOs sampled at the AMF1 site. The observed BL structures are open cellular in nature with high (~3-5 km) and cold (-30 to -50 oC) cloud tops, and they often have pockets of high liquid water paths (LWPs; up to ~1000 g m-2) associated with strong updrafts and enhanced turbulence. We use a high-resolution mesoscale model to explore how well four different turbulence closure methods represent open cellular cloud properties. After applying a radar simulator to the model outputs for direct evaluation, we show that cloud top properties agree well with AMF1 observations (within ~10%), but radar reflectivity and LWP agreement is more variable. The eddy-diffusivity/mass-flux approach produces the deepest cloud layer and therefore the largest and most coherent cellular structures. Our results suggest that the turbulent Prandtl number may play an important role for the simulated BL and cloud properties.
31 Jan 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
02 Feb 2024Published in ESS Open Archive