Sylvia Sullivan, Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona
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Abstract: Scale interactions are on vivid display in the atmosphere. As one example, mesoscale storms span a hundred kilometers or so and involve convective plumes forming over a few kilometers. Liquid droplets and ice crystals with sizes on the order of tens of microns form within these plumes, and the entire storm system is embedded in large-scale circulations which flow over thousands of kilometers. We start by examining how atmospheric models represent this range of scales with a dynamical core coupled to parameterizations and then explore two examples of these scale interactions: first, how ascent rates within convective plumes determine precipitation intensities and second, how ice-phase condensate determines atmospheric radiative heating rates. In the first case, we use a vertical momentum budget to explain intensification of precipitation extremes during El Niño, and in the second case, we use two kinds of sensitivity test to illustrate the strong effect of ice formation and optical properties on radiative heating rates.
Zoom Meeting: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/81283840289
Refreshments at 2:30PM in PAS 218