Sensitivity of isolated deep convection to TRACER thermodynamic and aerosol environments in idealized simulations

Isolated convection across the broader Houston, TX area during the Department of Energy (DOE) Tracking Aerosol Convection interactions ExpeRiment (TRACER) was often initiated and organized in sea- and bay-breeze air masses with different aerosol and meteorological characteristics that may influence convective cell evolution. To fully sample the variability in both meteorological conditions and aerosols across the sea breeze front, Texas A&M University (TAMU) deployed a mobile radiosonde unit and the new Rapid Onsite Atmospheric Measurement Van (ROAM-V) for aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), and ice nucleating particle (INP) sampling on select enhanced operations days during TRACER. Combining the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurements (ARM) Mobile Facility (AMF1) fixed site measurements with the mobile TAMU measurements, meteorological and aerosol environments were sampled simultaneously across these mesoscale air masses, allowing us to capture the thermodynamic and aerosol profile of the inflow environment of convective cells within an airmass.

Here we present results from a suite of six idealized WRF simulations for the case of isolated convection using representative meteorological base states based on measured thermodynamic and kinematic profiles from the maritime side of the sea and bay breeze fronts, respectively, and continental side of sea breeze. Each meteorological base state will be paired with the corresponding representative CCN profiles retrieved from the surface aerosol and lidar observations collected in that airmass. In a second pair of simulations for each meteorological base state, we will interchange the aerosol profiles to understand the relative sensitivity to realistic vertical aerosol distributions and the background meteorological environments. In particular, we focus the analysis on updraft characteristics, microphysical tendencies, and precipitation processes related to different aerosol-convection interaction mechanisms in simulated isolated convection.