Simulating mixed-phase open cellular clouds observed during COMBLE:
Evaluation of parameterized turbulence closure
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.