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Sensitivity of Squall-Line Rear Inflow to Ice Microphysics and Environmental Humidity. Ming-Jen Yang and Robert A. House Jr. Mon. Wea. Rev., 123, 3175-3193. Hsiao-Ling Huang 2004/01/09. Introduction. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Sensitivity of Squall-Line Rear Inflow to Ice Microphysics and Environmental
Humidity
Ming-Jen Yang and Robert A. House Jr.
Mon. Wea. Rev., 123, 3175-3193
Hsiao-Ling Huang 2004/01/09
Introduction
• Squall line with 50-200 km wide trailing stratiform precipitation regions are an important type of organized mesoscale convective system (MCS), which occur in both the Tropics and midlatitudes.
• A mesoscale storm-relative ascending front-to-rear (FTR) flow, transporting hydrometeors rearward from a leading-edge convective line to the trailing stratiform region.
• A mesoscale storm-relative rear-to-front (RTF) flow, descending through the stratiform region toward low levels in the leading convective region.
• Zhang and Gao(1989) performed mesoscale model simulations of an intense midlatitude squall line indicating that the large-scale baroclinicity provided deep and favorable RTF flow within the upper half of the troposphere.
• Fovell and Ogura (1989) and Weisman (1992) showed that the RTF flow increased in strength with increasing environmental vertical wind shear and convective available potential energy (CAPE).
• This study use a high-resolution nonhydrostatic cloud model to perform six numerical experiments in order to determine the sensitivity of the storm structure to hydrometeor types, ice-phase microphysics, and environmental humidity.
Model description
314 km
2250 km2250 kmFine mesh=1 kmStretch grid is 1.075:1
Δ z = 140 m
Δ z = 550 m
• Numerical model Compressible nonhydrostatic clod model.A 2D simulation (x-z). grid points: 455 (H) × 62 (V) domain: 4814 km(H)×21.7 km(V)
• Cloud microphysicsFive types of water condensate are include: cloud water, cloud ice, rainwater, snow, and hail (Lin et al. 1983).
• Initial conditions1985/06/10/2331 UTC [Enid(END), Oklahoma]. T, TD, u, v
1985/06/10/2330 UTC [Pratt(PTT), Kansas]. Low-level moisture
1985/06/10~11
1985/06/10/2331 UTC
A 5-km deep, 170-km-long cold pool of
ΔΘ´= -6 K and Δqv´ = -4 g kg-1
The control experiment (CNTL)
• A control run (CNTL) with full model physics for 15 h.
• The justification for turning off hail generation processes ( at t = 6 h) after the early stage is that there were very few hailstones in the mature or decaying stage of the 10-11 June squall line.
Overview of the storm development
Hail is
turned off
INI; t = 7.5-8.5 h MAT; t = 10-11 h
DEC; t = 12.5-13.5 h
28~36%
45~53%
Evolution of the squall-line structure
Kinematic structure
The rear inflow plays a crucial role in supplying potentially cold and dry midlevel air from the environment to aid in the production of the convective and mesoscale downdraft.
Evolution of the squall-line structure
Thermal and pressure structure
H
H
HL
L
L
Lc
w
Latent heating fields
Air parcel trajectories Trajectories of precipitation particles
t = 10-11 h
t = 10-11 h
Sensitivity tests
RunRun
time (h)Restart time Comments
CNTL 15 full physics; turn off hail generation processes after 6 h
HAIL 13 full physics; leave hail generation processes on after 6 h
NICE 14 no ice-phase microphysics
NEVP 12 CNTL at 3 h no evaporative cooling
NMLT 12 CNTL at 3 h no melting cooling
NSUB 12 CNTL at 3 h no sublimational cooling
DRYM 12 driver midlevel environment; see Fig. 1a
Hailstorm simulation (HAIL)
150 km 55 km
No ice-phase microphysics (NICE)
7K 4K
150 km 60 km
8 ms-112.2 ms-1
No evaporative cooling (NEVP)
5 ms-112.2 ms-1
No latent cooling by melting (NMLT)
W
S
12 ms-112.2 ms-1
No latent cooling by sublimation (NSUB)
The latent cooling by evaporation and melting are the most important microphysical processes determining the structure and strength of rear inflow in the cloud-model simulations.
10.8 ms-112.2 ms-1
Drier midlevel environment (DRYM)
S
W
12.2 ms-112.2 ms-1
Run Storm speed Storm orientation RTF flow structure
CNTL 12.2 ms –1 upshear tilt two Max. in the storm (8 ms-1)
HAIL 11 ms-1 upshear tilt one Max. in convective region
NICE 8 ms-1 upshear tilt one Max. in convective region
NEVP 5 ms-1 upright to downshear tilt a highly elevated RTF flow
NMLT 12 ms-1 less upshear tilt two Max. in the storm (6 ms-1)
NSUB 10.8 ms-1 less upshear tilt two Max. in the storm (7 ms-1)
DRYM 12.2 ms-1 more upright two Max. in the storm (3 ms-1)
Role of mesolows in the formation of the descending rear-to-front flow
Mature (t = 10-11 h) Late (t = 12.5-13.5 h)
Conclusions• The mass convergence associated with the ascendin
g FTR flow and descending RTF flow in the trailing stratiform region was crucial to the generation and maintenance of mesoscale updraft and downdraft.
• The most important latent cooling is produced by evaporative cooling of rainwater.
• The structure and strength of the rear inflow is sensitive to precipitating hydrometeor types, ice-phase microphysics, and the latent cooling of evaporation, melting, and sublimation.