This paper focuses on the variability in entrainment rate in individual cumulus clouds using the entrainment rate estimated on the scale of 5 m in 186 shallow cumulus clouds from eight aircraft flights, using in situ ...This paper focuses on the variability in entrainment rate in individual cumulus clouds using the entrainment rate estimated on the scale of 5 m in 186 shallow cumulus clouds from eight aircraft flights, using in situ observations from the RACORO field campaign （the routine atmospheric radiation measurement aerial facility clouds with low optical water depths optical radiative observations） over the atmospheric radiation measurement Southern Great Plains site, USA. The result shows that the mean entrainment rate of all the 186 clouds systematically decreases from the cloud edge to the cloud center. Further analysis of the fluctuation of entrainment rate shows that the probability density function of entrainment rate in each flight can be fitted by the lognormal, gamma, or Weibull distributions virtually equally well, with the Weibull dis- tribution being the best. The parameter ＂standard devia- tion＂ in the lognormal distribution is weakly negatively correlated, and the other parameters in the three distribu- tions are positively correlated with relative humidity in the entrained dry air and dilution effect, respectively. Entrainment rate is negatively correlated with droplet concentration, droplet size, and liquid water content, but positively correlated with relative dispersion. The effect of entrainment rate on the spectral shape of cloud droplet size distribution is examined and linked to the systems theory on the cloud droplet size distribution.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41305120,91337215)the Research Foundation for Environmental Protection of Jiangsu Province(2013042)+9 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province,China(BK20130988)the Specialized Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education(20133228120002)the Natural Science Foundation of the Higher Education Institutions of Jiangsu Province,China(13KJB170014)China Meteorological Administration Special Public Welfare Research Foundation(GYHY201406007)the Open Funding from State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather(2013LASW-B06)the Open Funding from Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education,China(KLME1305)the Qing Lan Projecta Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutionsthe US Department of Energy’s(DOE)Earth System Modeling(ESM)program via the FASTER project(www.bnl.gov/faster)Atmospheric System Research(ASR)Program
文摘This paper focuses on the variability in entrainment rate in individual cumulus clouds using the entrainment rate estimated on the scale of 5 m in 186 shallow cumulus clouds from eight aircraft flights, using in situ observations from the RACORO field campaign （the routine atmospheric radiation measurement aerial facility clouds with low optical water depths optical radiative observations） over the atmospheric radiation measurement Southern Great Plains site, USA. The result shows that the mean entrainment rate of all the 186 clouds systematically decreases from the cloud edge to the cloud center. Further analysis of the fluctuation of entrainment rate shows that the probability density function of entrainment rate in each flight can be fitted by the lognormal, gamma, or Weibull distributions virtually equally well, with the Weibull dis- tribution being the best. The parameter ＂standard devia- tion＂ in the lognormal distribution is weakly negatively correlated, and the other parameters in the three distribu- tions are positively correlated with relative humidity in the entrained dry air and dilution effect, respectively. Entrainment rate is negatively correlated with droplet concentration, droplet size, and liquid water content, but positively correlated with relative dispersion. The effect of entrainment rate on the spectral shape of cloud droplet size distribution is examined and linked to the systems theory on the cloud droplet size distribution.
