Open AccessEvaluating elevated convection with the downdraft convective inhibition
Author(s) -
Market P. S.,
Rochette S. M.,
Shewchuk J.,
Difani R.,
Kastman J. S.,
Henson C. B.,
Fox N. I.
Publication year - 2017
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.727
Subject(s) - convection , convective inhibition , free convective layer , penetration (warfare) , convective available potential energy , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , mechanics , geology , physics , natural convection , combined forced and natural convection , mathematics , operations research
A method for evaluating the penetration of a stable layer by an elevated convective downdraft is discussed. Some controversy exists on the community's ability to define truly elevated convection from surface‐based convection. By comparing the downdraft convective inhibition ( DCIN ) to the downdraft convective available potential energy ( DCAPE ), we determine that downdraft penetration potential is progressively enabled as the DCIN is progressively smaller than the DCAPE ; inversely as DCIN increases over DCAPE , so does the likelihood of purely elevated convection. Serial vertical soundings and accompanying analyses are provided to support this finding.