Temporal Variability of Fair-Weather Cumulus Statistics at the ACRF SGP Site

Abstract Continental fair-weather cumuli exhibit significant diurnal, day-to-day, and year-to-year variability. This study describes the climatology of cloud macroscale properties, over the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The diurnal cycle of cloud fraction, cloud-base height, cloud-top height, and cloud thickness were well defined. The cloud fraction reached its maximum value near 1400 central standard time. The average cloud-base height increased throughout the day, while the average cloud thickness decreased with time. In contrast to the other cloud properties, the average cloud-chord length remained nearly constant throughout the day. The sensitivity of the cloud properties to the year-to-year variability of precipitation and day-to-day changes in the height of the lifting condensation level (zLCL) and surface fluxes were compared. The cloud-base height was found to be sensitive to both the year, zLC...

[1]  Kenneth Sassen,et al.  Cloud Type and Macrophysical Property Retrieval Using Multiple Remote Sensors , 2001 .

[2]  R. Stull,et al.  Accuracy of Point and Line Measures of Boundary Layer Cloud Amount , 2002 .

[3]  Pedro Viterbo,et al.  Land-surface, boundary layer, and cloud-field coupling over the southwestern Amazon in ERA-40 , 2005 .

[4]  J. Wang,et al.  Climatic shift in patterns of shallow clouds over the Amazon , 2004 .

[5]  Claude E. Duchon,et al.  Estimating Cloud Type from Pyranometer Observations , 1999 .

[6]  Vernon G. Plank,et al.  The Size Distribution of Cumulus Clouds in Representative Florida Populations , 1969 .

[7]  Larry K. Berg,et al.  A simple parameterization coupling the convective daytime boundary layer and fair-weather cumuli , 2005 .

[8]  Qingyuan Han,et al.  Effects of land use in Southwest Australia: 1. Observations of cumulus cloudiness and energy fluxes , 2003, ACL 2003.

[9]  Witold F. Krajewski,et al.  Evaluating NEXRAD Multisensor Precipitation Estimates for Operational Hydrologic Forecasting , 2000 .

[10]  P. Minnis,et al.  A Climatology of Midlatitude Continental Clouds from the Arm Sgp Central Facility.Part II; Cloud Fraction and Radiative Forcing , 2005 .

[11]  R. Chervin,et al.  Global distribution of total cloud cover and cloud type amounts over the ocean , 1988 .

[12]  Judith A. Curry,et al.  Characteristics of small tropical cumulus clouds and their impact on the environment , 1998 .

[13]  Gerald G. Mace,et al.  A Cloud Climatology of the Southern Great Plains ARM CART , 2000 .

[14]  S. Schwartz,et al.  The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program: Programmatic Background and Design of the Cloud and Radiation Test Bed , 1994 .

[15]  Robert F. Cahalan,et al.  Fractal Statistics of Cloud Fields , 1989 .

[16]  R. Stull,et al.  Boundary layer experiment 1996 (BLX96) , 1997 .

[17]  Randy A. Peppler,et al.  Tropospheric Static Stability and Central North American Growing Season Rainfall , 1989 .

[18]  Alan K. Betts,et al.  Understanding Hydrometeorology Using Global Models , 2004 .

[19]  R. Stull,et al.  The LCL Zone and Cumulus Onset , 1985 .

[20]  Roel Neggers,et al.  Size Statistics of Cumulus Cloud Populations in Large-Eddy Simulations , 2003 .

[21]  Roland B. Stull.  Impact of Boundary-Layer Clouds--A Case Study of Cover Hours. , 1992 .

[22]  Richard C. J. Somerville,et al.  Radiative Transfer through Broken Clouds: Observations and Model Validation , 2002 .

[23]  William H. Press,et al.  The Art of Scientific Computing Second Edition , 1998 .

[24]  Ronald M. Welch,et al.  Cumulus Cloud Field Morphology and Spatial Patterns Derived from High Spatial Resolution Landsat Imagery , 1990 .

[25]  C. Magono,et al.  The Size Distribution of Cumulus Clouds as a Function of Cloud Amount , 1982 .

[26]  David J. Stensrud,et al.  Observed Effects of Landscape Variability on Convective Clouds , 1990 .

[27]  Akio Arakawa,et al.  CLOUDS AND CLIMATE: A PROBLEM THAT REFUSES TO DIE. Clouds of many , 2022 .

[28]  G. Hänel.  Introduction to boundary layer meteorology: by Roland B. Stull, 1988. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 1988, xii+666 pp., Dfl. 1,220.00 (hardback). , 1991 .

[29]  Stephen G. Warren,et al.  A Survey of Changes in Cloud Cover and Cloud Types over Land from Surface Observations, 1971–96 , 2007 .

[30]  E. Clothiaux,et al.  Objective Determination of Cloud Heights and Radar Reflectivities Using a Combination of Active Remote Sensors at the ARM CART Sites , 2000 .

[31]  R. Stull.  An Introduction to Boundary Layer Meteorology , 1988 .

[32]  William B. Rossow,et al.  Structural Characteristics and Radiative Properties of Tropical Cloud Clusters , 1993 .

[33]  Ronald M. Welch,et al.  Cumulus Cloud Properties Derived Using Landsat Satellite Data , 1986 .

[34]  Evgueni I. Kassianov,et al.  Cloud Sky Cover versus Cloud Fraction: Whole-Sky Simulations and Observations , 2005 .

[35]  Harm J. J. Jonker,et al.  Size Distributions and Dynamical Properties of Shallow Cumulus Clouds from Aircraft Observations and Satellite Data , 2003 .