Cloud-environment interface instability: rising thermal calculations in two spatial dimensions

Abstract

High resolution two-dimensional numerical experiments of rising thermals in a stably stratified environment were performed to study the cloud boundary instability. Unstable modes develop on the leading edge of the rising thermal, which are driven by the buoyant production of vorticity and lead to the type of entraining eddies that are thought to be responsible for observed dilution of convective clouds. These instabilities develop on the complex and evolving base state characterized by a nonparallel flow near the interface with a contractional component across the interface and a stretching component along it. The spectrum of eddy sizes observed in the simulations ranged from about 50 to about 250 m. These findings provide further evidence of cumulus entrainment being driven by an inviscid baroclinic process. -from Authors