Observational study of the entrainment-mixing process in warm convective clouds

153Citations
Citations of this article
61Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Thermodynamical and microphysical measurements collected in convective clouds are examined within the frame of the homogeneous/inhomogeneous mixing concept, to determine how entrainment-mixing processes affect cloud droplets, their number concentration, and their mean size. The three selected case studies - one stratocumulus layer and two cumulus clouds - exhibit very different values of the cloud updraft intensity, of the adiabatic droplet mean volume diameter, and of the saturation deficit in the environment, all three parameters that are expected to govern the microphysical response to entrainment mixing. The results confirm that the observed microphysical features are sensitive to the droplet response time to evaporation and to the turbulent homogenization time scale, as suggested by the inhomogeneous mixing concept. They also reveal that an instrumental artifact due to the heterogeneous spatial droplet distribution may be partly responsible for the observed heterogeneous mixing features. The challenge remains, however, to understand why spatially homogeneous cloud volumes larger than the instrument resolution scale (10 m) are so rarely observed. The analysis of the buoyancy of the cloud and clear air mixtures suggests that dynamical sorting could also be efficient for the selection, among all possible mixing scenarios, of those that minimize the local buoyancy production. © 2007 American Meteorological Society.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Burnet, F., & Brenguier, J. L. (2007). Observational study of the entrainment-mixing process in warm convective clouds. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 64(6), 1995–2011. https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3928.1

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free