Identification

Title

The impact of gravity waves on the evolution of tropical anvil cirrus microphysical properties

Abstract

Anvil cirrus generated by deep convection covers large fractions of the tropics and has important impacts on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. In situ measurements made with high-altitude aircraft indicate a rapid transition in ice crystal size distributions and habits as anvil cirrus ages. We use numerical simulations to investigate the impact of high-frequency gravity waves on the evolution of anvil cirrus microphysical properties. The impacts of both monochromatic gravity waves and ubiquitous stochastic mesoscale temperature fluctuations are simulated. In both cases, the interplay between wave-driven temperature fluctuations, deposition growth/sublimation, and sedimentation causes accelerated removal of both small ice crystals (diameters less than about 10 mu m) and large crystals (diameters larger than approximate to 30 mu m). These changes are consistent with the observed evolution of anvil cirrus microphysical properties. The Kelvin effect (higher saturation vapor pressure over curved surfaces) is a critical factor in the anvil evolution, driving mass transfer from small to large ice crystals. The wave-driven decrease in ice concentration is much faster for typical anvil cirrus detrained at similar or equal to 11.5-12.5 km than for less frequent anvils at 15.5-17.5 km because of the strong temperature dependence of deposition growth and sublimation rates. The simulations also show that waves, along with the Kelvin effect, drive growth of mid-sized (5-20 mu m) ice crystals, which is consistent with the observed transition to bullet rosette habits in aging anvil cirrus. We conclude that high-frequency gravity waves, which are generally not resolved in large-scale models, likely have important impacts on anvil cirrus microphysical properties and lifetimes.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7183bqw

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

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South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2024-03-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

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name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

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