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The effect on the evolution of the drop spectrum in clouds of the preconditioning of air by successive convective elements
Author(s) -
Roesner S.,
Flossmann A. I.,
Pruppacher H. R.
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.49711649607
Subject(s) - convection , meteorology , drop (telecommunication) , environmental science , mechanics , precipitation , atmospheric sciences , geology , physics , computer science , telecommunications
Abstract A multiple air‐parcel model is used to study the effect on the drop size spectrum inside convective clouds of preconditioning of air by successive convective elements. Numerical evaluation of this model shows that each rising air parcel establishes a new environment for the air parcel following it, thus substantially affecting its thermodynamic behaviour. This preconditioning of air allows successive air parcels to penetrate an inversion and produce precipitation‐sized drops under conditions which are not conducive to precipitation when only a single air parcel is considered.