Author : Amy Yu
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781658413855
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (138 download)
Book Synopsis An Investigation of Mechanisms of Aerosol-induced Invigoration in Deep Convection by : Amy Yu
Download or read book An Investigation of Mechanisms of Aerosol-induced Invigoration in Deep Convection written by Amy Yu and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Clouds are an important component of Earth's climate and hydrological system. Aerosols play a critical role in cloud formation by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. Altering aerosol properties would arguably have impacts on the microphysics and dynamics of the cloud formation process. In particular, deep convective clouds (DCCs) are comprised of three major regions-warm, mixed-phase, and cold. The complex structure of DCCs reflects on the behavior of DCCs in response to changes in aerosol loading. Studies done by others have proposed various hypotheses, some of which conflict with one another, on the microphysical and dynamic effects aerosols have on DCCs. The lack of consensus illustrates a need to collectively assess these hypotheses. In this study, a deep convective storm is simulated using RAMS to explore the microphysics and dynamics of DCCs under different environmental conditions and with varying aerosol concentrations. Consistent with many studies, analysis of simulations in this study generally show an increase in average updraft speeds in response to aerosol loading. Specifically, this study investigates three hypotheses found in literature: freeze-based aerosol invigoration, condensate loading, and condensation-based aerosol invigoration. Through a series of mechanism denial tests, results show supersaturation to be most strongly tied to the aerosol-induced invigoration process. This study also addresses the possibility of impacts from smaller sized aerosol particles and secondary activation on deep convection. The influences of secondary activation on updraft speeds remain inconclusive as results appear to be dependent on environmental conditions. Meanwhile, the impacts of Aitken mode aerosols are found to be considerably smaller on convective invigoration compared to accumulation mode aerosols. From a broader perspective, this study calls for more consideration to details when parameterizing convective schemes.