The Generation of Turbulence below Midlevel Cloud Bases: The Effect of Cooling due to Sublimation of Snow

Abstract

AbstractIn the author’s experience as a forecaster, commercial aircraft sometimes report turbulence beneath midlevel clouds that extend above upper frontal zones. Turbulence caused by Kelvin–Helmholtz instability occurs in upper frontal zones with strong vertical shear of horizontal winds. However, the turbulence seems to occur not only in the cloud bases (where upper frontal zones are) but also below the cloud bases where the vertical shear is not strong. Because those clouds are usually accompanied by precipitation that does not reach the ground, cooling by evaporation or sublimation seems to contribute to the generation of turbulence. In this paper, the mechanisms generating turbulence below midlevel cloud bases are examined by using observations and high-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations with idealized initial conditions. The numerical simulations showed that the following sequence of events led to turbulence. Falling snow sublimated below cloud bases and cooled the air, which created absolute instability. This generated Rayleigh–Bénard convection cells. The vertical motion caused turbulence. The horizontal scale of the convection was about 800–1000 m, and the variations of vertical wind velocity were up to about 7 m s−1. The cloud base was accompanied by a virga-like distribution of snow. Sensitivity experiments showed the appropriate conditions to cause the turbulence: 1) the cloud-base temperature was between about 0° and −15°C, 2) the relative humidity in subcloud layers was sufficiently low, and 3) the stability in subcloud layers was weak. The results of the numerical simulations agreed well with the observations.