11 research outputs found
Cloud microphysical effects of turbulent mixing and entrainment
Turbulent mixing and entrainment at the boundary of a cloud is studied by
means of direct numerical simulations that couple the Eulerian description of
the turbulent velocity and water vapor fields with a Lagrangian ensemble of
cloud water droplets that can grow and shrink by condensation and evaporation,
respectively. The focus is on detailed analysis of the relaxation process of
the droplet ensemble during the entrainment of subsaturated air, in particular
the dependence on turbulence time scales, droplet number density, initial
droplet radius and particle inertia. We find that the droplet evolution during
the entrainment process is captured best by a phase relaxation time that is
based on the droplet number density with respect to the entire simulation
domain and the initial droplet radius. Even under conditions favoring
homogeneous mixing, the probability density function of supersaturation at
droplet locations exhibits initially strong negative skewness, consistent with
droplets near the cloud boundary being suddenly mixed into clear air, but
rapidly approaches a narrower, symmetric shape. The droplet size distribution,
which is initialized as perfectly monodisperse, broadens and also becomes
somewhat negatively skewed. Particle inertia and gravitational settling lead to
a more rapid initial evaporation, but ultimately only to slight depletion of
both tails of the droplet size distribution. The Reynolds number dependence of
the mixing process remained weak over the parameter range studied, most
probably due to the fact that the inhomogeneous mixing regime could not be
fully accessed when phase relaxation times based on global number density are
considered.Comment: 17 pages, 10 Postscript figures (figures 3,4,6,7,8 and 10 are in
reduced quality), to appear in Theoretical Computational Fluid Dynamic
The clustering instability of inertial particles spatial distribution in turbulent flows
A theory of clustering of inertial particles advected by a turbulent velocity
field caused by an instability of their spatial distribution is suggested. The
reason for the clustering instability is a combined effect of the particles
inertia and a finite correlation time of the velocity field. The crucial
parameter for the clustering instability is a size of the particles. The
critical size is estimated for a strong clustering (with a finite fraction of
particles in clusters) associated with the growth of the mean absolute value of
the particles number density and for a weak clustering associated with the
growth of the second and higher moments. A new concept of compressibility of
the turbulent diffusion tensor caused by a finite correlation time of an
incompressible velocity field is introduced. In this model of the velocity
field, the field of Lagrangian trajectories is not divergence-free. A mechanism
of saturation of the clustering instability associated with the particles
collisions in the clusters is suggested. Applications of the analyzed effects
to the dynamics of droplets in the turbulent atmosphere are discussed. An
estimated nonlinear level of the saturation of the droplets number density in
clouds exceeds by the orders of magnitude their mean number density. The
critical size of cloud droplets required for clusters formation is more than
m.Comment: REVTeX 4, 15 pages, 2 figures(included), PRE submitte
Perturbation theory for large Stokes number particles in random velocity fields
We derive a perturbative approach to study, in the large inertia limit, the
dynamics of solid particles in a smooth, incompressible and finite-time
correlated random velocity field. We carry on an expansion in powers of the
inverse square root of the Stokes number, defined as the ratio of the
relaxation time for the particle velocities and the correlation time of the
velocity field. We describe in this limit the residual concentration
fluctuations of the particle suspension, and determine the contribution to the
collision statistics produced by clustering. For both concentration
fluctuations and collision velocities, we analyze the differences with the
compressible one-dimensional case.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 2 eps figures include
Tropical and subtropical cloud transitions in weather and climate prediction models: The GCSS/WGNE pacific cross-section intercomparison (GPCI)
International audienceA model evaluation approach is proposed in which weather and climate prediction models are analyzed along a Pacific Ocean cross section, from the stratocumulus regions off the coast of California, across the shallow convection dominated trade winds, to the deep convection regions of the ITCZ-the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment Cloud System Study/Working Group on Numerical Experimentation (GCSS/WGNE) Pacific Cross-Section Intercomparison (GPCI). The main goal of GPCI is to evaluate and help understand and improve the representation of tropical and subtropical cloud processes in weather and climate prediction models. In this paper, a detailed analysis of cloud regime transitions along the cross section from the subtropics to the tropics for the season June-July-August of 1998 is presented. This GPCI study confirms many of the typical weather and climate prediction model problems in the representation of clouds: underestimation of clouds in the stratocumulus regime by most models with the corresponding consequences in terms of shortwave radiation biases; overestimation of clouds by the 40-yrECMWFRe-Analysis (ERA-40) in the deep tropics (in particular) with the corresponding impact in the outgoing longwave radiation; large spread between the different models in terms of cloud cover, liquid water path and shortwave radiation; significant differences between the models in terms of vertical cross sections of cloud properties (in particular), vertical velocity, and relative humidity. An alternative analysis of cloud cover mean statistics is proposed where sharp gradients in cloud cover along the GPCI transect are taken into account. This analysis shows that the negative cloud bias of some models and ERA-40 in the stratocumulus regions [as compared to the first International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP)] is associated not only with lower values of cloud cover in these regimes, but also with a stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition that occurs too early along the trade wind Lagrangian trajectory. Histograms of cloud cover along the cross section differ significantly between models. Some models exhibit a quasi-bimodal structure with cloud cover being either very large (close to 100%) or very small, while other models show a more continuous transition. The ISCCP observations suggest that reality is in-between these two extreme examples. These different patterns reflect the diverse nature of the cloud, boundary layer, and convection parameterizations in the participating weather and climate prediction models. © 2011 American Meteorological Society
Variability, regularity and coupling measures distinguish PD tremor from voluntary 5 Hz tremor
A characteristic of Parkinson's disease (PD) is the development of tremor within the 4-6. Hz range. One method used to better understand pathological tremor is to compare the responses to tremor-type actions generated intentionally in healthy adults. This study was designed to investigate the similarities and differences between voluntarily generated 4-6. Hz tremor and PD tremor in regards to their amplitude, frequency and coupling characteristics. Tremor responses for 8 PD individuals (on- and off-medication) and 12 healthy adults were assessed under postural and resting conditions. Results showed that the voluntary and PD tremor were essentially identical with regards to the amplitude and peak frequency. However, differences between the groups were found for the variability (SD of peak frequency, proportional power) and regularity (Approximate Entropy, ApEn) of the tremor signal. Additionally, coherence analysis revealed strong inter-limb coupling during voluntary conditions while no bilateral coupling was seen for the PD persons. Overall, healthy participants were able to produce a 5. Hz tremulous motion indistinguishable to that of PD patients in terms of peak frequency and amplitude. However, differences in the structure of variability and level of inter-limb coupling were found for the tremor responses of the PD and healthy adults. These differences were preserved irrespective of the medication state of the PD persons. The results illustrate the importance of assessing the pattern of signal structure/variability to discriminate between different tremor forms, especially where no differences emerge in standard measures of mean amplitude as traditionally defined