CLOUDPHYS Sea Breeze Cloud Response to Soil Moisture, Urban Heating and the Galveston Bay

Land surface heterogeneity has been recognized as a significant driver of changes in surface fluxes, that subsequently influence the lifecycle of regional convective clouds. While previous studies in the Houston region have focused on understanding the factors influencing local clouds due to urban land cover changes, the effects of the surrounding rural landscape conditions have received comparatively less attention. In this study, we present an investigation into the influences of multiple factors on boundary layer properties and the lifecycle of convective clouds. We use a new soil moisture product constrained by measurements using a data assimilation approach to determine the impact of rural soil moisture distributions on sea breeze clouds. We also compare the impacts on local cloud properties from soil moisture with those from urbanization and the presence of Galveston Bay to evaluate the relative role of rural soil moisture on local cloud properties. The results of this study provide insights into the complex interplay between urbanization, the surrounding environment, and convective cloud dynamics, that affect the propagation of sea breeze clouds across the metropolitan Houston region.