Transcript 070612SanFrancisco_CloudSatSciTeamV02_Houze.ppt

Ice Cloud Generation by Mesoscale
Convective Systems and Implications
for Large-scale Heating Processes
Robert Houze
University of Washington
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CloudSat/CALIPSO Science Team Meeting, San Francisco, 12 June 2007
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Convective region water budget equation
Ccu  Rc  Ecd  Ac  CT
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Stratiform region water budget equation
Csu  CT  Rs  Esd  As
ZAC
IWC
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IWC
XAC
Radiative
What we need to know
Objectives & Research Plan
• Objective 1: Case studies: Characterize anvil cloud structure and
density for selected MCS.
• Objective 2: Statistics: Compile info on anvil characteristics and
group seasonally, regionally, and according to type and size of
MCS.
• Objective 3: Estimate heating. Estimate radiative heating by
MCSs by using the statistics of anvil structure from
CloudSat/CALIPSO & compare with latent heating statistics
from precipitation measuring satellite. Use Fu-Liou code.
• Objective 4: Sensitivity of large-scale circulation to MCS heating.
Use an idealized climate model forced by diabatic heating as in
Schumacher et al.
Thank you!