Responses of cumulus ensembles to temperature and moisture perturbations

To study the large-scale organization of cumulus ensembles, it is useful to separate the system into a large-scale dry component and a moist component that consists of the cumulus ensemble and consider the interaction of two. Because the response of the large-scale dry circulation to convective heating is well described by current large-scale models, the core of this problem lies in how cumulus ensembles respond to changes in the large-scale conditions, known as the cumulus closure problem. Such responses have been difficult to quantify from observations, where the two-way interaction between the dry component and the cumulus ensemble makes it difficult infer cause and effect. In this study, a cloud-system-resolving model is used to assess such responses and implications to convectively coupled waves will be discussed.