Numerical study of radiatively induced entrainment

Abstract

Numerical simulations using the one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model are compared to water-tank measurements emulating convection and entrainment in stratiform clouds driven by cloud-top cooling. Measured dependences of the entrainment rate on Richardson number are reproduced. An additional parameter variation suggests more complicated dependences of the entrainment rate than previously anticipated. Uncertainties in the modeling assumptions and in the experimental results are discussed.