Transcript 投影片 1

Cloud Diurnal Variations in the Maritime
Continent During Boreal Winter
Ming-Dah Chou
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
National Taiwan University
Presentation at the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, National Central
University, January 2, 2008.
Importance of Cloud Diurnal Variation
• Net solar and IR radiative heat balance. Strong diurnal solar
heating.
• A fundamental mode of variability of the global climate system
• A key test of physical parameterization in a global circulation
model
Objectives of the Study
• To understand the diurnal variations of convection
over different regions and seasons
• To understand the impact of diurnal radiative
heating and cooling on convection and clouds
Possible mechanisms
Land
Low-level thermodynamical response to radiative heating cycle.
Local topography
A. Direct radiation convection interaction (Kraus 1963, Randall et al.
1991) [Nighttime enhanced convection; daytime depressed
convection]
Ocean
B. Cloud versus cloud-free radiation difference in horizontal (Gray
and Jacobson 1977) [Nighttime enhanced convection; daytime
depressed convection]
C. Thermodynamic (RH: Tao et al.(1996); APW: Sui et al.(1997);
Chen and Houze 1997) [nighttime enhanced convection]
D. Diurnal cycle of SST under weak wind clear sky. (Halpern and
Reed 1976; Stramma et al. 1986) [Late afternoon enhanced
convection during clear calm day]
Japan’s Geostationary Satellite-5 (GMS-5)
• Spectral Band & Resolution
VIS (0.55 mm~0 .90 mm)
IR1(10.5 mm~11.5 mm)
IR2(11.5 mm~12.5 mm)
IR3(6.5 mm~7.0 mm)
• Temporal resolution:
• Period of this study:
~1.25 km
~5 km
~5 km
~5 km
1 hour
3 boreal winters
DJF Dec 1997-Dec 2000
The brightness temperature, Tbb, of IR2 was used to infer clouds.
A smaller Tb indicates a higher cloud fractional cover and a higher
cloud height.
Definition of Tbb?
Seasonal Mean Brightness Temperature
September 1997 - February 2003
K
GMS data from Central Weather Bureau
Standard Deviation of Daily-Mean
Brightness Temperature
K
Percentage Contribution (%) of Different
Time Scales to the Total Variance
Local Time of Tbb Maximum
Local Hours
(1) The maximum Tbb in most of the open oceanic regions occurs
in daytime hours.
(2) There are no open oceanic regions where the maximum Tbb
occurs in the early hours after midnight from.
Local Time of Tbb Minimum
(1) Over dry regions centered at equator, the minimum Tbb occurs from
midnight to early morning (0:00-6:00 LT).
(2) Over humid regions centered at ~5ºN and south of 10ºS, the minimum
Tbb occurs in late afternoon and early evening (14:00-18:00 LT).
Synoptic scale
Classification into Active and Inactive Phases
• Criterion 1:
Standard deviation (SD) of the whole 3-year DJF
Active events:
Tb-ave(Tb)< -0.5*SD
Inactive events:
Tb-ave(Tb)> +0.5*SD
• Criterion 2: The above conditions continued for at least 4
days
Synoptic scale
Borneo (261.29 3yr mean 13.25 SD)
New Guinea (262.78 3yr mean 12.90 SD)
Inactive 59 days
active 72 days
Inactive 52 days
active 60 days
Diurnal Variations of Tbb in Boreal Winters
Units: K
Local Hours
Diurnal Variations of Tbb in Boreal Winter
Oceanic Regions
Units: K
Local Hours
Diurnal Variations of Tbb in Boreal Winter
Units: K
Local Hours
Local Time of Tbb Maximum
Local Hours
(1) The maximum Tbb in most of the open oceanic regions occurs
in daytime hours.
(2) There are no open oceanic regions where the maximum Tbb
occurs in the early hours after midnight from.
The 850-hPa Streamline and Wind Speed
m s-1
Mean Diurnal Cycle of the Tbb Anomaly
Along the 140E Meridian
The ordinate is for local hours.
Conclusions
The land-sea contract of cloud variation is apparent
• Over land, the diurnal cloud variation contributes
significantly to the total variance
• Over oceans, cloud variations with a time scale > one
day contribute significantly to the total variance
The large-scale circulation affects the magnitude, but not
the phase, of the cloud diurnal variation
Conclusions (continued)
Three major thermodynamic processes govern the diurnal
variation of clouds:
• In convective regions, the solar heating causes a cloud
maximum in the afternoon.
• In convection-suppressed oceanic regions, the cloud-top IR
cooling induces a cloud maximum in the early hours after
midnight.
• In oceanic regions adjacent to land, land-sea breezes and
prevailing winds cause a phase propagating several hundred
kilometers offshore.