School of Earth Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemA Comparison of Cloud Microphysical Properties Derived From MODIS and CALIPSO With In Situ Measurements Over the Wintertime Southern Ocean(AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2018-10-16)
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ItemNo Preview AvailableHimawari-8 GeoCat 1.0.3 Australian Domain Level 1 v1.0( 2021-03-15)
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ItemWintertime precipitation over the Australian Snowy Mountains: Observations from an Intensive Field Campaign 2018(American Meteorological Society, 2021-08-01)Understanding the key dynamical and microphysical mechanisms driving precipitation in the Snowy Mountains region of southeast Australia, including the role of orography, can help improve precipitation forecasts, which is of great value for efficient water management. An intensive observation campaign was carried out during the 2018 austral winter, providing a comprehensive range of ground-based observations across the Snowy Mountains. We used data from three vertically pointing rain radars, cloud radar, a PARSIVEL disdrometer, and a network of 76 pluviometers. The observations reveal that all of the precipitation events were associated with cold front passages. About half accumulated during the frontal passage associated with deep, fully glaciated cloud tops, while the rest occurred in the postfrontal environment and were associated with clouds with supercooled liquid water (SLW) tops. About three-quarters of the accumulated precipitation was observed under blocked conditions, likely associated with blocked stratiform orographic enhancement. Specifically, more than a third of the precipitation resulted from moist cloudless air being lifted over stagnant air, upwind from the barrier, creating SLW-top clouds. These SLW clouds then produced stratiform precipitation mostly over the upwind slopes and mountain tops, with hydrometeors reaching the mountain tops mostly as rimed snow. Two precipitation events were studied in detail, which showed that during unblocked conditions, orographic convection invigoration and unblocked stratiform enhancement were the two main mechanisms driving the precipitation, with the latter being more prevalent after the frontal passage. During these events, ice particle growth was likely dominated by vapor deposition and aggregation during the frontal periods, while riming dominated during the postfrontal periods.
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ItemA Climatology of the Marine Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Southern Ocean from Four Field Campaigns during 2016–2018(American Geophysical Union, 2020-10-27)A climatology of the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) and the lower free troposphere over the Southern Ocean (SO) is constructed using 2,186 high‐resolution atmospheric soundings from four recent campaigns conducted in the period of 2016–2018. Relationships between the synoptic meteorology and MABL thermodynamic structure are examined using a k‐means cluster analysis, complemented by front and cyclone composite analyses. Seven distinct clusters are identified, five of which are consistent with an established climatology over the SO storm track. Two new clusters (C1 and C2) are introduced over the high‐latitude SO. C1 is commonly located poleward of the ocean polar front near mesocyclones, while C2 is located along the Antarctic coastline. A multilayer cloud structure is frequently present in clusters in the vicinity of fronts and cyclones, while a single‐layer coverage is more common in a suppressed environment, particularly at lower latitudes. A cloud‐free, multilevel inversion is frequently observed in cluster C2, possibly linked to the descending, dry, katabatic winds off the Antarctic coast. A strong, primary inversion is typically present in clusters at lower latitudes with high mean sea level pressure. Across the SO storm track and higher latitudes (cluster C1), a multilevel inversion structure is also commonly observed. A preliminary analysis of two case studies suggests that upper level advection and detrainment of convection associated with mesocyclones are potential drivers of the multilayer cloud coverage over the high‐latitude SO rather than the decoupling mechanisms common in the subtropics.
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ItemObservations of clouds, aerosols, precipitation, and surface radiation over the Southern Ocean: An overview of CAPRICORN, MARCUS, MICRE and SOCRATES(American Meteorological Society, 2020-11-24)Weather and climate models are challenged by uncertainties and biases in simulating Southern Ocean (SO) radiative fluxes that trace to a poor understanding of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative processes, and their interactions. Projects between 2016 and 2018 used in situ probes, radar, lidar, and other instruments to make comprehensive measurements of thermodynamics, surface radiation, cloud, precipitation, aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and ice nucleating particles over the SO cold waters, and in ubiquitous liquid and mixed-phase clouds common to this pristine environment. Data including soundings were collected from the NSF–NCAR G-V aircraft flying north–south gradients south of Tasmania, at Macquarie Island, and on the R/V Investigator and RSV Aurora Australis. Synergistically these data characterize boundary layer and free troposphere environmental properties, and represent the most comprehensive data of this type available south of the oceanic polar front, in the cold sector of SO cyclones, and across seasons. Results show largely pristine environments with numerous small and few large aerosols above cloud, suggesting new particle formation and limited long-range transport from continents, high variability in CCN and cloud droplet concentrations, and ubiquitous supercooled water in thin, multilayered clouds, often with small-scale generating cells near cloud top. These observations demonstrate how cloud properties depend on aerosols while highlighting the importance of dynamics and turbulence that likely drive heterogeneity of cloud phase. Satellite retrievals confirmed low clouds were responsible for radiation biases. The combination of models and observations is examining how aerosols and meteorology couple to control SO water and energy budgets.
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ItemShallow convection and precipitation over the Southern Ocean: A case study during the CAPRICORN 2016 field campaign(American Geophysical Union, 2021-04-13)Marine boundary layer clouds and precipitation observed in a sustained period of open mesoscale cellular convection (MCC) over the Southern Ocean (SO) are investigated using Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, Radiation, and atmospherIc Composition Over the southeRn oceaN 2016 observations, Himawari‐8 products, and numerical simulations. The shallow convection was characterized by the presence of supercooled liquid water and mixed‐phase clouds in the sub‐freezing temperature range, consistent with earlier in‐situ observations where ice multiplication is found to be active in producing large quantities of ice in open MCC clouds. Ice‐phase precipitation was observed to melt below cloud base with evidence of cold pools produced in a decoupled boundary layer. Convection‐permitting simulations using the weather research and forecasting model were able to reproduce many of the surface meteorological features and their evolution. However, the evolution of the boundary layer height and the degree of decoupling were poorly simulated, along with the absence of cold pools. The observed cloud morphology and microphysical characteristics were also not well reproduced in the control simulation with the Thompson microphysics scheme, where too much supercooled water was simulated in a too homogenous cloud field. Sensitivity experiments with modified microphysical parameters led to a higher production of glaciated clouds and precipitation. Sensitivity experiments with different boundary layer schemes and vertical resolution, however, showed a smaller impact. A bias of ∼4°C in the initial boundary conditions of the sea surface temperature is discussed. This study highlights the challenge of representing the complex physical processes that underpin the cloud, precipitation, and boundary layer characteristics of the open MCC over the SO.
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ItemEvidence of a diurnal cycle in precipitation over the Southern Ocean as observed at Macquarie Island(MDPI, 2020)Due to a lack of observations, relatively large discrepancies exist between precipitation products over the Southern Ocean. In this manuscript, surface hourly precipitation observations from Macquarie Island (54.62° S, 158.85° E) are analysed (1998-2016) to reveal a diurnal cycle. The precipitation rate is at a maximum during night/early morning and a minimum in the afternoon at Macquarie Island station. Seasonally, the diurnal cycle is strongest in summer and negligible over winter. Such a cycle is consistent with precipitation arising from marine boundary layer clouds, suggesting that such clouds are making a substantial contribution to total precipitation over Macquarie Island and the Southern Ocean. Using twice daily upper air soundings (1995-2011), lower troposphere stability parameters show a stronger inversion at night, again consistent with precipitation arising from marine boundary layer clouds. The ERA-Interim precipitation is dominated by a 12 hourly cycle, year around, which is likely to be a consequence of the twice-daily initialisation. The implication of a diurnal cycle in boundary layer clouds over the Southern Ocean to derived A-Train satellite precipitation products is also discussed.
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ItemAir-sea heat and momentum fluxes in the Southern Ocean(American Geophysical Union, 2019)The Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, Radiation, and atmospheric Composition Over the southeRn oceaN (CAPRICORN) experiment was carried out in March-April 2016 onboard R/V Investigator studying momentum (τ), sensible heat (Hs) and latent heat (Hi) fluxes over the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean including over one cyclonic cold-core and one anticyclonic warm-core mesoscale oceanic eddy. The turbulence-based flux measurements obtained with the NOAA PSD flux system employing eddy covariance (EC) and inertial dissipation (ID) methods are compared with those obtained by the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) 3.5 bulk model, and the neutral transfer coefficients are studied. The relative uncertainty between the turbulence-based and COARE 3.5 estimates of τ, Hs and Hi are 22%, 70% and 26%, respectively at 1-hour timescale over the Southern Ocean. Further, the variability in bulk fluxes is investigated with respect to oceanic eddies, precipitation events, atmospheric stability and extratropical cyclones encountered during the voyage. The main observed variability is an increase in significant wave height or γw (∼33%), τ (∼89%), Hs (∼187%) and Hi (∼79%) over the warm eddy as compared to average voyage values. During the passage of 6 extratropical cyclones, an increase in τ (∼62% average) and a decrease in Hs (∼235%) and Hi (∼79%) is noted in the warm sector, compared to pre-storm conditions, but the pattern reverses behind the cold front.
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ItemAssessing surface heat flux products with in situ observations over the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean(American Meteorological Society, 2019-09-13)Given the large uncertainties in surface heat fluxes over the Southern Ocean, an assessment of fluxes obtained by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts interim reanalysis (ERA-Interim) product, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) routine observations, and the Objectively Analyzed Air–Sea Heat Fluxes (OAFlux) project hybrid dataset is performed. The surface fluxes are calculated using the COARE 3.5 bulk algorithm with in situ data obtained from the NOAA Physical Sciences Division flux system during the Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, Radiation, and Atmospheric Composition over the Southern Ocean (CAPRICORN) experiment on board the R/V Investigator during a voyage (March–April 2016) in the Australian sector of the Southern Ocean (43°–53°S). ERA-Interim and OAFlux data are further compared with the Southern Ocean Flux Station (SOFS) air–sea flux moored surface float deployed for a year (March 2015–April 2016) at ~46.7°S, 142°E. The results indicate that ERA-Interim (3 hourly at 0.25°) and OAFlux (daily at 1°) estimate sensible heat flux Hs accurately to within ±5 W m−2 and latent heat flux Hl to within ±10 W m−2. ERA-Interim gives a positive bias in Hs at low latitudes (<47°S) and in Hl at high latitudes (>47°S), and OAFlux displays consistently positive bias in Hl at all latitudes. No systematic bias with respect to wind or rain conditions was observed. Although some differences in the bulk flux algorithms are noted, these biases can be largely attributed to the uncertainties in the observations used to derive the flux products.
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ItemEvaluating Himawari-8 Cloud Products Using Shipborne and CALIPSO Observations: Cloud-top Height and Cloud-top Temperature(American Meteorological Society, 2019-09-03)Cloud-top height (CTH) and cloud-top temperature (CTT) retrieved from the Himawari-8 observations are evaluated using the active shipborne radar-lidar observations derived from the 31-day “Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation Radiation and atmospherIc Composition Over the southeRn oceaN” (CAPRICORN) experiment in 2016 and one-year observations from the space-borne Cloud- Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) cloud product over a large sector of the Southern Ocean. The results show that the Himawari-8 CTH (CTT) retrievals agree reasonably well with both the shipborne estimates, with a correlation coefficient of 0.837 (0.820), a mean bias error of 0.226 km (-2.526°C), and an RMSE of 1.684 km (10.069°C), respectively. In the comparison with CALIOP, the corresponding quantities are found to be 0.786 (0.480), -0.570 km (1.343°C), and 2.297 km (25.176°C). The Himawari-8 CTH (CTT) generally falling between the physical CTHs observed by CALIOP and the ship-borne radar-lidar estimates. However, major systematic biases are also identified. These errors include (i) a low (warm) bias in CTH (CTT) for warm liquid cloud type, (ii) a cold bias in CTT for supercooled liquid water cloud type, (iii) a lack of CTH at ~3 km that does not have a corresponding gap in CTT, (iv) a tendency of misclassifying some low- / mid-top clouds as cirrus and overlap cloud types, and (v) a saturation of CTH (CTT) around 10 km (-40°C), particularly for cirrus and overlap cloud types. Various challenges that underpin these biases are also explored, including the potential of parallax bias, low-level inversion, and cloud heterogeneity.