Formative Dynamics of Mammatus Clouds in Thunderstorm Cirrus

雷暴铁锤是我们大气层中最具视觉特色的云团之一。尽管它们通常具有戏剧性的外观，但它们通常被认为是一种良性的对流形式。它们很少被研究，除了偶尔由于一些偶然的观察而作为副业。因此，人们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。如果我们想要理解这些神秘的云层现象，这些仍然需要解释。乳母云可能是最后一种尚未被了解的云形式。在这项工作中，将使用观测和理想化的探空对乳母云进行数值模拟，以初始化一个高分辨率(25-50m)的三维大涡模式，该模式同时使用微物理过程的两个矩(预测混合比和数密度)和面元参数。这些模拟将代表雷暴卷云和次云层的环境，以试图更好地了解什么动力和物理过程可能对乳母云的形成、组织、形状和可能的微物理结构负责。此外，对乳母云的研究将提高我们对对流的总体认识，包括云的脱钩和其他不稳定，以及与我们的大气对流有关的基本流体动力学和热力学过程。此外，有关卷云锤动态的结果也可能对雷暴卷云研究中的相关主题产生影响，例如在母风暴消退后这些云层的长期维护。一名女性研究科学家参与了这项工作，这将有助于女性在科学领域的留住和提升，并促进劳动力的多样性。此外，还将支持学生进行攻读硕士学位的研究，学生的选择将基于与这一研究的需要相称的优点和天赋。如果可能的话，被选中的学生将是俄亥俄州立大学气象学院申请者中代表性不足的群体中的一员。最后，将在当地为从K-12年级的小组提供讲座，讲解云类型和云研究的科学。一个承认国家科学基金会的网页将被开发和设计，以向更广泛的受众传播关于哺乳动物云的新知识。

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.