Land-Ocean Difference of the Warm Rain Formation Process in Satellite Observations, Ground-Based Observations, and Model Simulations

Abstract:

This study examines the difference in the warm rain formation process between over land and over ocean using a combination of CloudSat and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations. Previous studies (Nakajima et al. 2010; Suzuki et al. 2010) have devised a novel methodology for combining the CloudSat and MODIS satellite observations to investigate the microphysical processes. The statistics constructed with the methodology, referred to as the Contoured Frequency by Optical Depth Diagram (CFODD), provides a lifecycle view of warm clouds. Following the previous studies, we conduct detailed analyses of CFODD with a particular focus on comparisons between land and ocean. Our result shows that the coalescence process starts faster in the oceanic warm clouds than continental warm clouds. Also, oceanic clouds tend to produce more drizzle than continental clouds. Moreover, it is found that the difference between oceanic and continental cloud-to-precipitation process can be explained by different environmental conditions. For example, the cloud-to-precipitation processes in continental clouds are more similar to those in oceanic clouds over unstable environments than those over stable environments. Furthermore, ground-based measurement data obtained from Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) data and a cloud model simulation are analyzed to test how vertical velocity affects the warm rain formation process. Our result suggests that although the intensities of convective updrafts in warm clouds have been paid less attention, intensities of convective updrafts play a critical role in the warm rain formation process.