Open AccessEffects of linear, ambient wind shear on simulated mammatus‐like clouds
Author(s) -
Kanak Katharine M.,
Straka Jerry M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.224
Subject(s) - depth sounding , wind shear , sublimation (psychology) , geology , snow , shear (geology) , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , convection , liquid water content , cloud computing , wind speed , geomorphology , geography , oceanography , computer science , petrology , psychology , psychotherapist , operating system
A suite of numerical experiments is conducted to extend our previous studies to explore the effects of linear, ambient wind shear on simulated mammatus‐like clouds. Increasing values of unidirectional shear result in banded cloud bases, and for the strongest shears roll‐type quasi‐two‐dimensional convection results rather than three‐dimensional lobe morphology. Two observed soundings were used, and the sounding with a drier, shallower sub‐cloud layer appeared to be most strongly affected by the presence of the ambient shear. The drier sounding also had less snow in the mammatus lobes owing to sublimation. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society