Evidence for asymmetric inertial instability in the FIRE satellite dataset

One of the main goals of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment (FIRE) is obtaining the basic knowledge to better interpret satellite image of clouds on regional and smaller scales. An analysis of a mesoscale circulation phenomenon as observed in hourly FIRE satellite images is presented. Specifically, the phenomenon of interest appeared on satellite images as a group of propagating cloud wavelets located on the edge of a cirrus canopy on the anticylonic side of a strong, upper-level subtropical jet. These wavelets, which were observed between 1300 and 2200 GMT on 25 February 1987, are seen most distinctly in the GOES-West infrared satellite picture at 1800 GMT. The purpose is to document that these wavelets were a manifestation of asymmetric inertial instability. During their lifetime, the wavelets were located over the North American synoptic sounding network, so that the meteorological conditions surrounding their occurrence could be examined. A particular emphasis of the analysis is on the jet streak in which the wavelets were imbedded. The characteristics of the wavelets are examined using hourly satellite imagery. The hypothesis that inertial instability is the dynamical mechanism responsible for generating the observed cloud wavelets was examined. To further substantiate this contention, the observed characteristics of the wavelets are compared to, and found to be consistent with, a theoretical model of inertia instability by Stevens and Ciesielski

Global model of linearized atmospheric perturbations, A: model description

Includes bibliographical references

Dynamics of the Australian summer monsoon

March 6, 1992.Includes bibliographical references.When a west-east line of deep convection forms over northern Australia, the potential vorticity field begins to change due to the latent heat release, with low level negative and upper level positive anomalies being induced. These potential vorticity patterns can be analytically derived by using a zonal balance model formulated in isentropic and potential latitude coordinates. The associated wind and mass fields can be found by solving an invertibility principle which is valid for these equatorial balanced flows. Since the convectively induced potential vorticity anomalies develop from an initial state which has potential vorticity increasing toward the north, reversed poleward gradients of potential vorticity are produced. The regions of potential vorticity gradient reversal are found on the poleward side of the ITCZ at low levels and on the equatorward side of the ITCZ at upper levels, just as in the observed fields during AMEX. For typical convective heating rates, significant potential vorticity gradient reversals occur quickly - on the order of a few days. This sets the stage for combined barotropic-baroclinic instability, the formation of tropical waves, and t he breakdown of the ITCZ. We can understand the barotropic aspects of this breakdown t rough a normal mode stability analysis of the nondivergent barotropic model with either a hyperbolic tangent shear layer basic state zonal wind or an idealized three region profile in which there is a central (ITCZ) region of anomalous absolute vorticity, surrounded by regions of undisturbed absolute vorticity. The latter model can be solved analytically, which allows direct interpretation of the breakdown in terms of the phase locking and growth of the counterpropagating vorticity anomalies (essentially Rossby waves) located on the two interfaces separating the three regions. In this sense the ITCZ is self-destructive and should not be viewed as a strictly steady state feature of the tropical circulation. In addition, according to this scenario, the potential vorticity dynamics of the Australian region are not unique, but are characterized by an ITCZ formation-breakdown cycle similar to that occurring in other tropical regions such as the tropical east Pacific and western Africa

Analysis of tethered balloon, ceilometer and class sounding data taken on San Nicolas Island during the FIRE project

During the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Program on San Nicolas Island, Colorado State University (CSU) and the British Meteorological Office (BMO) operated separate instrument packages on the NASA tethered balloon. The CSU package contained instrumentation for the measurement of temperature, pressure, humidity, cloud droplet concentration, and long and short wave radiation. Eight research flights, performed between July 7 and July 14, are summarized. An analysis priority to the July 7, 8 and 11 flights was assigned for the purposes of comparing the CSU and BMO data. Results are presented. In addition, CSU operated a laser ceilometer for the determination of cloud base, and a CLASS radiosonde site which launched 69 sondes. Data from all of the above systems are being analyzed

Analysis of boundary layer sounding data from the FIRE Marine Stratocumulus Project

October 1987.FIRE volume 2 on cover.Includes bibliographical references.We present an analysis of the boundary layer thermodynamic data obtained by the CLASS radiosonde system during the marine boundary layer experiment on San Nicolas Island in the summer of 1987. The analysis procedure retains the highest possible vertical resolution in the data. Plots of temperature, dew point temperature, potential temperature, equivalent potential temperature and saturation equivalent potential temperature are presented for each of the sixty-nine soundings taken during FIRE. Conditions were mostly cloudy with fifty-five of the sixty-nine soundings being released with stratocumulus overhead. For the fifty-live cloudy soundings, cloud top Jumps of equivalent potential temperature i, and total water mixing ratio r were also determined. Each of these soundings is then represented by a point in the (~11., ~r) plane. Fifteen of these soundings are on the unstable aide of the evaporative instability line, and there appears to be some tendency for break-up under these conditions

The low-level circulation of the North American Monsoon as revealed by QuikSCAT

Five years (1999–2003) of near-surface QuikSCAT ocean winds over the Gulf of California and northeast Pacific Ocean are used to characterize the changes in the low-level circulation associated with the North American Monsoon. Our analysis shows that the onset of the summer season is accompanied by a seasonal reversal of the flow along the Gulf of California, with the establishment of a time-mean southerly wind throughout the gulf. This reversal, not evident in the global reanalysis products, occurs in late spring and precedes the onset of the monsoonal rains. In the core of the monsoon, the time-mean flow is found to be modulated by transient events, namely gulf surges, detected in the near-surface wind field as periods of enhanced southerly flow which typically originate at the southern end of the gulf and propagate northward. The histogram of the summertime along-shore winds identifies these surges as a distinct population of events, readily distinguishable from the background flow

Combined QCD and electroweak analysis of HERA data

A simultaneous fit of parton distribution functions (PDFs) and electroweak parameters to HERA data on deep inelastic scattering is presented. The input data are the neutral current and charged current inclusive cross sections which were previously used in the QCD analysis leading to the HERAPDF2.0 PDFs. In addition, the polarisation of the electron beam was taken into account for the ZEUS data recorded between 2004 and 2007. Results on the vector and axial-vector couplings of the Z boson to u- and d-type quarks, on the value of the electroweak mixing angle and the mass of the W boson are presented. The values obtained for the electroweak parameters are in agreement with Standard Model predictions.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. D. Small corrections from proofing process and small change to Fig. 12 and Table