29 Modeled Shipping Lane Produces Sustained Convective Invigoration

Monday, 9 July 2018
Regency A/B/C (Hyatt Regency Vancouver)
Peter N. Blossey, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; and C. S. Bretherton, J. A. Thornton, and K. S. Virts

The effect of aerosol emissions in an active shipping lane in the
Indian Ocean is simulated in an idealized framework in a
cloud-resolving model. Increased aerosol concentrations over the
modeled shipping lane lead to increased cloud droplet number, cloud
liquid mass, ice hydrometeor mass and simulated radar reflectivity.
The invigoration of deep convection induces mesoscale uplift and
increased precipitation over the shipping lane. The increased
prevalence of strong updrafts and cold radar echoes is suggestive of
enhanced lightning activity over the shipping lane, as has been
observed in a recent study. Cloud radiative effects, both shortwave
and longwave, are intensified over the shipping lane, but the change
in the net radiative flux at top of atmosphere is not significantly
different from zero.
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