Formative Dynamics of Mammatus Clouds in Thunderstorm Cirrus

雷暴卷云中乳状云的形成动力学

• 批准号: 0646892
• 负责人: Jerry Straka
• 金额: $ 31.8万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-03-01 至 2011-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0646892&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Formative; Dynamics; Mammatus; Clouds; Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm anvil mammatus are some of the most visually distinctive clouds in our atmosphere. Despite their often dramatic appearance, they generally are considered to be a benign form of convection. They are infrequently studied, except occasionally as an aside owing to some serendipitous observations. Thus, very little is actually known about their formative dynamics or the reasons for their physical characteristics. These still need to be explained if we are to understand these enigmatic cloud phenomena. Mammatus clouds are perhaps the last cloud form whose formation is yet to be understood.In this work mammatus-like clouds will be simulated numerically using observed and idealized soundings to initialize a high resolution (25-50 m) three-dimensional LES model that employs both two-moment (predicts mixing ratio and number concentration) and bin parameterizations of microphysical processes. These simulations will be representative of environments of thunderstorm cirrus and sub-cloud layers in order to attempt to better understand what dynamical and physical processes may be responsible for mammatus formation, organization, shape, and possibly microphysical structure..In addition, this research into mammatus will improve our understanding of convection in general, including cloud detrainment and other instabilities, and the basic fluid dynamic and thermodynamic processes involved in convection in our atmosphere. Moreover, the results regarding the dynamics of cirrus anvils may also have an impact on related topics in thunderstorm cirrus research, such as the long-term maintenance of these cloud layers long after the parent storm has decayed.A female research scientist is involved in this work, which will facilitate the retention and advancement of women in science, and promote diversity in the workforce. In addition a student will be supported to conduct research toward an MS degree, with student selection based on merit and talent commensurate with the needs for this research. If at all possible the chosen student will be one from an underrepresented group in the pool of applicants at OU School of Meteorology. Finally, talks will be offered locally, for grade groups ranging from K-12, which explain the science of cloud types and cloud research. A webpage acknowledging the NSF will be developed and designed to communicate new knowledge about mammatus clouds to a wide audience.

雷暴砧乳房是我们大气层中最具视觉特色的云。 尽管它们经常引人注目，但它们通常被认为是一种良性的对流形式。 他们很少研究，除了偶尔作为一个旁白，由于一些偶然的观察。 因此，实际上对它们的形成动力学或其物理特征的原因知之甚少。如果我们要理解这些神秘的云现象，这些仍然需要解释。 乳房状云可能是最后的云的形式，其形成尚未被understood.在这项工作中，乳房状云将数值模拟使用观察到的和理想化的探测初始化一个高分辨率（25-50米）的三维LES模式，采用两个时刻（预测混合比和数浓度）和箱参数化的微物理过程。这些模拟将代表雷暴卷云和亚云层的环境，以试图更好地了解什么样的动力学和物理过程可能对乳房的形成，组织，形状和可能的微物理结构负责。此外，这项对乳房的研究将提高我们对对流的总体理解，包括云的消散和其他不稳定性，以及我们大气中对流所涉及的基本流体动力学和热力学过程。 此外，卷云砧动态的研究结果也可能对雷暴卷云研究中的相关课题产生影响，例如在母风暴衰减很长时间后这些云层的长期维持。一名女性研究科学家参与了这项工作，这将有助于科学界女性的保留和提升，并促进劳动力的多样性。 此外，学生将被支持进行研究对MS学位，与学生选择的基础上的优点和人才与这项研究的需要相称。 如果可能的话，被选中的学生将是气象学院申请人中代表性不足的一个。 最后，将在当地为K-12年级的学生提供讲座，解释云类型和云研究的科学。 一个承认NSF的网页将被开发和设计，以向广大观众传达有关乳房云的新知识。