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On the parametric representation of the tropospheric thermodynamic structure for mid‐latitude convective situations
Author(s) -
Binder Peter
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711649605
Subject(s) - convection , troposphere , latitude , atmosphere (unit) , meteorology , geology , climatology , atmospheric convection , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , physics , geodesy
The thermodynamic structure related to mid‐latitude continental summer convection is investigated from a set of upper‐air soundings from a station in western Europe. In particular an examination is undertaken of the applicability to mid‐latitude situations of the convective adjustment scheme proposed by Betts (1986), which was based primarily on tropical data. It is shown that, given a proper set for the adjustable parameters derived from the observations, the deep‐convection reference profile of Betts characterizes well the convectively adjusted atmosphere of the extra‐tropical continental environment. In comparison with the reference profile determined by Betts and Miller (1986), the temperature structure derived from the present data‐set is found to be even more unstable below melting level. In addition the humidity profile exhibits some distinctive physical characteristics.