Premium
Entrainment rate diurnal cycle in marine stratiform clouds estimated from geostationary satellite retrievals and a meteorological forecast model
Author(s) -
Painemal David,
Xu KuanMan,
Palikonda Rabindra,
Minnis Patrick
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2017gl074481
Subject(s) - diurnal cycle , environmental science , advection , entrainment (biomusicology) , climatology , geostationary orbit , atmospheric sciences , geostationary operational environmental satellite , satellite , longwave , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , radiative transfer , quantum mechanics , rhythm , thermodynamics , astronomy , acoustics
The mean diurnal cycle of cloud entrainment rate ( w e ) over the northeast Pacific region is for the first time computed by combining, in a mixed‐layer model framework, the hourly composited GOES‐15 satellite‐based cloud top height ( H T ) tendency, advection, and large‐scale vertical velocity ( w ) during May to September 2013, with horizontal winds and w taken from the European Centre for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model. The tendency term dominates the magnitude and phase of the w e diurnal cycle, with a secondary role of w , and a modest advective contribution. The peak and minimum in w e occur between 20:00–22:00 LT and 9:00–11:00 LT, respectively, in close agreement with the diurnal cycle of turbulence driven by cloud top longwave cooling. Uncertainties in H T and ECMWF fields are assessed with in situ observations and three meteorological reanalysis data sets. This study provides the basis for constructing nearly global climatologies of w e by combining a suite of well‐calibrated geostationary satellites.