EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation

Sandrine Bony 1 Bjorn Stevens 2 Felix Ament 3 Sebastien Bigorre 4 Patrick Chazette 5 Susanne Crewell 6 Julien Delanoë 7 Kerry A. Emanuel 8 David Farrell 9 Cyrille Flamant 10 Silke Gross 11 Lutz Hirsch 2 Johannes Karstensen 12 Bernhard Mayer 13 Louise Nuijens 14 James H. Ruppert Jr. 2 Irina Sandu 15 A. Pier Siebesma 16, 14 Sabrina Speich 1 Frédéric Szczap 17, 18 Julien Totems 5 Raphaela Vogel 2 Manfred Wendisch 19 Martin Wirth 11
1 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
2 MPI-M - Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie
3 UHH - Universität Hamburg
4 WHOI - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
5 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
6 Institut für Geophysik und Meteorologie [Köln]
7 SPACE - LATMOS
LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
8 MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9 CIMH - Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology
10 TROPO - LATMOS
LATMOS - Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales
11 IPA - DLR Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
12 GEOMAR - GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research [Kiel]
13 LMU - Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
14 TU Delft - Delft University of Technology
15 ECMWF - European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
16 KNMI - Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
17 OPGC - Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand
18 LaMP - Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique - Clermont Auvergne
19 LIM - Institut für Meteorologie [Leipzig]
Abstract : Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of trade-cumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of trade-cumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.
Keywords : Atmospheric circulation Shallow convection Field campaign Cloud feedback Trade-wind cumulus
Document type :
Journal articles
Complete list of metadatas

Cited literature [115 references]  Display  Hide  Download
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01628404
Contributor : Catherine Cardon <>
Submitted on : Friday, November 3, 2017 - 2:48:29 PM
Last modification on : Monday, February 10, 2020 - 6:12:17 PM
Long-term archiving on: Sunday, February 4, 2018 - 1:40:56 PM

File

10.1007-s10712-017-9428-0.pdf
Publisher files allowed on an open archive

Identifiers

Collections

INSU | CNRS | X | LATMOS | LMD | ENS-PARIS | CEA | X-LMD | LSCE | ENPC-LMD | PARISTECH | PSL | UPMC | UVSQ | UNIV-PARIS-SACLAY | ENPC | ACL-SF | PRES_CLERMONT | LAMP | OPGC | CEA-DRF | CEA-UPSAY | X-DEP-MECA | SORBONNE-UNIVERSITE | SU-SCIENCES

Citation

Sandrine Bony, Bjorn Stevens, Felix Ament, Sebastien Bigorre, Patrick Chazette, et al.. EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation. Surveys in Geophysics, Springer Verlag (Germany), 2017, 38 (6), pp.1529-1568. ⟨10.1007/s10712-017-9428-0⟩. ⟨insu-01628404⟩

Export

BibTeX TEI DC DCterms EndNote

Share

Metrics

Record views

2469

Files downloads

312

Contact

Informations

CCSD