The Climatological Effects of Convective Cloud Systems

这是一项为期三年的对流云系研究，重点是它们与大尺度环流的相互作用及其对地球辐射收支的影响。要研究的云类型包括积云，以及与对流云系有关的层状顶云和卷云。需要解决的关键问题是：1.物理性质是什么对流层上层层状顶锤和卷云之间的耦合以及深积云对流，云和对流如何与大尺度环流相互作用？2.当云量在未分辨的尺度上显著波动时，如何确定对流云系的辐射效应？3.热带对流云系的统计数据是什么？由此产生的辐射和潜热驱动大尺度环流的空间分布是什么？拟议的研究将通过以下方式解决这些问题：1.分析最近的观测结果；2.云水(或冰)、云量和云光学性质之间关系的理论研究；3.中尺度对流系统及其相关高层云量的高分辨率数值模拟；4.以新的对流云系参数化形式的结果的综合；5.对这种新的参数化产生的大尺度环流与对流云系相互作用的GCM模拟结果进行了分析。

This is a three-year study of convective cloud systems, with emphasis on their interaction with large-scale circulations and their effects on the Earth's radiation budget. The cloud types to be studied include cumulus clouds and also the stratiform anvil clouds and cirrus clouds that are associated with convective cloud systems The key problems to be addressed are: 1. What is the nature of the physical couplings between upper- tropospheric stratiform anvil and cirrus clouds and deep cumulus convection, and how do the clouds and convection interact with the large-scale circulation?, 2. How can the radiative effects of convective cloud systems be determine when the cloudiness fluctuates significantly on unresolved scales?, 3. What are the statistics of convective cloud systems in the tropics, and what are the spatial distributions of the resulting radiative and latent heating that drive the large-scale circulation? The proposed research will address these problems through: 1. analysis of recent observational results; 2. theoretical studies of the relations among cloud water (or ice), cloud amount, and cloud optical properties; 3. high-resolution numerical simulations of mesoscale convective systems and the associated upper level cloudiness; 4. synthesis of results in the form of a new parameterization of convective cloud systems; and 5. analysis of the results of GCM simulations of the interactions of convective cloud systems with large-scale circulations produced by this new parameterization.