Identification

Title

Numerical simulation of radial cloud bands within the upper-level outflow of an observed mesoscale convective system

Abstract

Turbulence affecting aircraft is frequently reported within bands of cirrus anvil cloud extending radially outward from upstream deep convection in mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). A high-resolution convection permitting model is used to simulate bands of this type observed on 17 June 2005. The timing, location, and orientation of these simulated bands are similar to those in satellite imagery for this case. The 10-20 km horizontal spacing between the bands is also similar to typical spacing found in a recent satellite-based climatology of MCS-induced radial outflow bands. The simulated bands result from shallow convection in the near neutral to weakly unstable MCS outer anvil. The weak stratification of the anvil, the ratio of band horizontal wavelength to the depth of the near neutral anvil layer (5:1 to 10:1), and band orientation approximately parallel to the vertical shear within the same layer are similar to corresponding aspects of horizontal convective rolls in the atmospheric boundary layer, which result from thermal instability. The vertical shear in the MCS outflow is important not only in influencing the orientation of the radial bands but also for its role, through differential temperature advection, in helping to thermodynamically destabilize the environment in which they originate. High frequency gravity waves emanating from the parent deep convection are trapped in a layer of strong static stability and vertical wind shear beneath the near neutral anvil and, consistent with satellite studies, are oriented approximately normal to the developing radial bands. The wave-generated vertical displacements near the anvil base may aid band formation in the layer above.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7g44rk3

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

2010-09-01T00:00:00Z

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 2010 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