Objective Analysis of ARM IOP Data: Method and Sensitivity

Zhang, M. H.; Lin, Jih‐Pai; Cederwall, R.T.; Yio, J. John; Xie, Shaocheng

doi:10.1175/1520-0493(2001)129<0295:oaoaid>2.0.co;2

Cited by 190 publications

(249 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…35, but also including aerosol information. Initial conditions could be based on radiosondes or from reanalysis, daily Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) derived soundings, or variational analysis (36). Model output that successfully reproduces a desired set of observed quantities, which should include surface SW radiation, L, f c , and A c , can then be tied to the observed initial meteorological conditions, N a , and surface latent and sensible heat fluxes.…”

Section: A Path Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect

Feingold

McComiskey

Yamaguchi

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The topic of cloud radiative forcing associated with the atmospheric aerosol has been the focus of intense scrutiny for decades. The enormity of the problem is reflected in the need to understand aspects such as aerosol composition, optical properties, cloud condensation, and ice nucleation potential, along with the global distribution of these properties, controlled by emissions, transport, transformation, and sinks. Equally daunting is that clouds themselves are complex, turbulent, microphysical entities and, by their very nature, ephemeral and hard to predict. Atmospheric general circulation models represent aerosol−cloud interactions at everincreasing levels of detail, but these models lack the resolution to represent clouds and aerosol−cloud interactions adequately. There is a dearth of observational constraints on aerosol−cloud interactions. We develop a conceptual approach to systematically constrain the aerosol−cloud radiative effect in shallow clouds through a combination of routine process modeling and satellite and surfacebased shortwave radiation measurements. We heed the call to merge Darwinian and Newtonian strategies by balancing microphysical detail with scaling and emergent properties of the aerosol−cloud radiation system.T he climate system, with its couplings between land surface, vegetation, ocean, cryosphere, and atmosphere, is an extraordinarily complex system that is under intensive scrutiny for the purposes of climate analysis and prediction. The atmospheric aerosol and its interaction with clouds is a poorly quantified component of the climate system and is the focus of the current study. The aerosol comprises suspended particles that derive from the oceans, land surface, volcanoes, and anthropogenic activities. The difficulty in quantifying climate forcing by the aerosol emanates partly from the complexity in the aerosol itself, and partly from the fact that its influence on clouds requires detailed understanding of clouds and cloud feedbacks at a range of spatiotemporal scales. Untangling the multiple cloud responses that occur as a result of aerosol perturbations is particularly difficult (1). As one example, consider the influence of the aerosol on clouds and precipitation. Assuming no change in condensed water, the aerosol, by acting as nucleation sites for droplets, might generate smaller droplets, more reflective clouds (2), and reduced precipitation (3). However, through a multitude of complex and contingent pathways, aerosol-perturbed clouds sometimes appear to have similar reflectance because brightening is offset by reductions in cloud water, a fundamental property controlling cloud reflectance. On short timescales (hours), the aerosol tends to reduce precipitation in shallow, liquid-only clouds, but this may be offset over longer periods (multiple days) (4). Deep, mixed-phase convective clouds present even more complex pathways for generation of precipitation, and even more contingencies. The aerosol appears to change the distribution and intensity of surface rain from deep c...

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Section: A Path Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect

Feingold

McComiskey

Yamaguchi

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Here, we will briefly review the approach. More details can be seen in Zhang and Lin (1997) and Zhang et al (2001).…”

Section: Overview Of the Constrained Variational Analysis Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of them are also described in Zhang et al (2001). It should be noted that the analysis system i s currently designed to process the ARM Single-Column Model (SCM) IOP data at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site.…”

Section: The Architecture Of the Arm Operational Objective Analysis Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Description of the ARM Operational Objective Analysis System

Zhang¹,

Xie²,

Cederwall³

et al. 2001

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“…These data contain three-hourly vertical sounding observations that were post-processed into area-averaged single profiles using an objective analysis scheme developed by Zhang and Lin (1997). The values represent the mean ARM cloud and radiation test best (CART) domain rather than a single point (Zhang et al 2001). The forcing data also provide the surface latent and sensible heat fluxes derived from sitewide averages of observed fluxes from the ARM energy balance bowen ratio (EBBR) stations.…”

Section: Model and Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The forcing data also provide the surface latent and sensible heat fluxes derived from sitewide averages of observed fluxes from the ARM energy balance bowen ratio (EBBR) stations. The reader is pointed to the description in Zhang et al (2001) for the details in the objective analysis procedure and the input data source from various observations.…”

Section: Model and Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of diurnal precipitation over the US Great Plains: a cloud resolving model perspective

et al. 2009

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The mechanisms of summertime diurnal precipitation in the US Great Plains were examined with the two-dimensional (2D) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) cloud-resolving model (CRM). The model was constrained by the observed large-scale background state and surface flux derived from the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Intensive Observing Period (IOP) data at the Southern Great Plains (SGP). The model, when continuously-forced by realistic surface flux and large-scale advection, simulates reasonably well the temporal evolution of the observed rainfall episodes, particularly for the strongly forced precipitation events. However, the model exhibits a deficiency for the weakly forced events driven by diurnal convection. Additional tests were run with the GCE model in order to discriminate between the mechanisms that determine daytime and nighttime convection. In these tests, the model was constrained with the same repeating diurnal variation in the large-scale advection and/or surface flux. The results indicate that it is primarily the surface heat and moisture flux that is responsible for the development of deep convection in the afternoon, whereas the large-scale upward motion and associated moisture advection play an important role in preconditioning nocturnal convection. In the nighttime, high clouds are continuously built up through their interaction and feedback with long-wave radiation, eventually initiating deep convection from the boundary layer. Without these upper-level destabilization processes, the model tends to produce only daytime convection in response to boundary layer heating. This study suggests that the correct simulation of the diurnal variation in precipitation requires that the free-atmospheric destabilization mechanisms resolved in the CRM simulation must be adequately parameterized in current general circulation models (GCMs) many of which are overly sensitive to the parameterized boundary layer heating.

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Objective Analysis of ARM IOP Data: Method and Sensitivity

Cited by 190 publications

References 56 publications

New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect

New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect

Description of the ARM Operational Objective Analysis System

Mechanisms of diurnal precipitation over the US Great Plains: a cloud resolving model perspective

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