Convective available potential energy

About: Convective available potential energy is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 936 publications have been published within this topic receiving 43773 citations. The topic is also known as: CAPE.

The Environment of Fast- and Slow-Moving Tropical Mesoscale Convective Cloud Lines

Abstract: Rawinsonde data from GATE are composited to examine the environmental similarities and differences between fast-moving (line speed VL > 7 m s−1) and slow-moving VL < 3 m s−1) mesoscale convective cloud lines. Thermodynamic structures for the two types of line are similar with respect to the mixed-layer values of θe and convective available potential energy, but the fast-moving lines have a more pronounced minimum in θe at ∼700 mb. Kinematic structure shows that the vertical shows of the horizontal wind is normal to the leading edge of convention in the fast-moving convective lines but parallel to the leading edge of the slow-moving cloud lines. The results suggest that the type of line (fast versus slow) which forms may be affected by the initial environmental conditions.

Physical Processes Associated with Heavy Flooding Rainfall in Nashville, Tennessee, and Vicinity during 1–2 May 2010: The Role of an Atmospheric River and Mesoscale Convective Systems*

Abstract: A multiscale analysis is conducted in order to examine the physical processes that resulted in prolonged heavy rainfall and devastating flash flooding across western and central Tennessee and Kentucky on 1–2 May 2010, during which Nashville, Tennessee, received 344.7 mm of rainfall and incurred 11 flood-related fatalities. On the synoptic scale, heavy rainfall was supported by a persistent corridor of strong water vapor transport rooted in the tropics that was manifested as an atmospheric river (AR). This AR developed as water vapor was extracted from the eastern tropical Pacific and the Caribbean Sea and transported into the central Mississippi Valley by a strong southerly low-level jet (LLJ) positioned between a stationary lee trough along the eastern Mexico coast and a broad, stationary subtropical ridge positioned over the southeastern United States and the subtropical Atlantic. The AR, associated with substantial water vapor content and moderate convective available potential energy, supporte...

Model for multiscale disaggregation of spatial rainfall based on coupling meteorological and scaling descriptions

Abstract: The precipitation output of a mesoscale atmospheric numerical model is usually interpreted as the average rainfall intensity over the grid cell of the model (typically 30 × 30 km to 60×60 km). However, rainfall exhibits considerable heterogeneity over subgrid scales (i.e., scales smaller than the grid cell), so it is necessary for hydrologic applications to recreate or simulate the small-scale rainfall variability given its large-scale average. Rainfall disaggregation is usually done statistically. In this paper, a new subgrid scale rainfall disaggregation model is developed. It has the ability to statistically reproduce the rainfall variability at scales unresolved by mesoscale models while being conditioned on large-scale rainfall averages and physical properties of the prestorm environment. The model is based on two extensively tested hypotheses for midlatitude mesoscale convective systems [Perica and Foufoula-Georgiou, 1996]: (1) standardized rainfall fluctuations (defined via a wavelet transform) exhibit simple scaling over the mesoscale, and (2) statistical scaling parameters of rainfall fluctuations relate to the convective available potential energy (CAPE), a measure of the convective instability of the prestorm environment. Preliminary evaluation of the model showed that the model is capable of reconstructing the small-scale statistical variability of rainfall as well as the fraction of area covered with rain at all analyzed subgrid scales. The performance evaluation was based on comparison of summary statistics and spatial pattern measures of simulated fields with those of known fields observed during the Oklahoma-Kansas Preliminary Regional Experiment for Storm-Central (PRE-STORM).

Convective quasi-equilibrium in midlatitude continental environment and its effect on convective parameterization

Abstract: [1] The quasi-equilibrium assumption proposed by Arakawa and Schubert assumes that convection is controlled by the large-scale forcing in a statistical sense, in such a way that the stabilization of the atmosphere by convection is in quasi-equilibrium with the destabilization by the large-scale forcing. The assumption was developed largely based on observations in the tropical maritime environment and has not been evaluated in midlatitudes. This study examines the quasi-equilibrium assumption in midlatitude continental convection environment using summertime observations from the Southern Great Plains of the United States. Two complementary approaches are taken for this purpose. The first one compares the net time rate of change of convective available potential energy to that due to the large-scale forcing. The second one examines the contributions to the net change of CAPE from the boundary layer air and the free tropospheric air above. Results from both the approaches indicate that the quasi-equilibrium assumption is not well suited for midlatitude continental convection. It is shown that the net change of CAPE is comparable to and largely comes from that due to thermodynamic changes of the boundary layer air, while the contribution from the free troposphere above the boundary layer is negligible. The analysis also shows that the role of convective inhibition to suppress convection is the most pronounced when the large-scale forcing in the free troposphere is weak. On the basis of these and other observations, a modification to the quasi-equilibrium assumption is proposed. It assumes that convective and large-scale processes in the free troposphere above the boundary layer are in balance, so that contribution from the free troposphere to changes in CAPE is negligible. This assumption is then tested using the single column model of the NCAR CCM3 by modifying the closure in the CCM3 convection scheme. Such a modification significantly improves the single column model simulation. The applicability of this new quasi-equilibrium assumption to tropical convection environment is also discussed.

Saturation Point Analysis of Moist Convective Overturning

Abstract: A unified approach to the thermodynamics of cloudy air, cloud-clear air mixing processes, atmospheric thermodynamic equilibrium structure and instability is formulated, using a new concept: the Saturation Point. This permits the representation of mixing processes and virtual potential temperature isopleths for clear and cloudy air on a thermodynamic diagram (a tephigram is used here), and their comparison with the atmospheric stratification. Illustrative examples will be given for evaporative mixing instability and convective equilibrium structure for stratocumulus, cumulus and cumulonimbus convection and convection in the incipient severe storm atmosphere.