Schuster, R, Fink, AH and Knippertz, P (2013) Formation and Maintenance of Nocturnal Low-Level Stratus over the Southern West African Monsoon Region during AMMA 2006. Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 70 (8). 2337 - 2355. ISSN 0022-4928
Abstract
The southern parts of West Africa are frequently covered by an extensive deck of shallow, low (200-400m AGL) stratus or stratocumulus clouds during the summer monsoon. These clouds usually form at night in association with a nocturnal low-level jet (NLLJ) and can persist into the early afternoon hours. Recent work suggests that the stratus deck is unsatisfactorily represented in standard satellite retrievals and stateof- the-art climate models. Here the authors use high-resolution regional simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and observations from the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) 2006 campaign to investigate (i) the spatiotemporal distribution, (ii) the influence on the shortwave radiation balance, and (iii) the detailed formation and maintenance mechanisms of the stratiform clouds. At least some configurations of WRF satisfactorily reproduce the diurnal cycle of the lowcloud evolution, yielding the following main conclusions: (i) The simulated stratus deck forms after sunset along the coast, spreads inland during the course of the night, and dissipates in the early afternoon. (ii) The average surface net shortwave radiation balance in stratus-dominated regions is about 35Wm22 lower than in those with fewer clouds. (iii) The cloud formation is related to a subtle balance between ''stratogenic'' upward (downward) fluxes of latent (sensible) heat caused by shear-driven turbulence below the NLLJ, cold advection, orographic lifting, and radiative cooling on one hand, and ''stratolytic'' dry advection and latent heating on the other hand.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Copyright 2013 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a web site or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy, available on the AMS Web site located at (http://www.ametsoc.org/) or from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or copyrights@ametsoc.org. |
Keywords: | Africa; Tropics; Cloud cover; Monsoons; Radiative forcing; Numerical weather prediction; Forecasting |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Oct 2013 10:54 |
Last Modified: | 15 Sep 2014 02:59 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-12-0241.1 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Meteorological Society |
Identification Number: | 10.1175/JAS-D-12-0241.1 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:76580 |