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- Title
Tug‐Of‐War on Idealized Midlatitude Cyclones Between Radiative Heating From Low‐Level and High‐Level Clouds.
- Authors
Voigt, Aiko; Keshtgar, Behrooz; Butz, Klara
- Abstract
We present baroclinic life‐cycle simulations with two versions of the atmosphere model ICON to understand how cloud‐radiative heating and cooling affect an idealized midlatitude cyclone. Both versions simulate the same cyclone when run without radiation, but disagree when cloud‐radiation‐interaction is taken into account. The radiative effects of clouds weaken the cyclone in ICON2.1 but strengthen it in ICON2.6. We attribute the disagreement to low‐level clouds, which in ICON2.1 are more abundant and show stronger radiative cooling of the boundary layer. We argue that radiative cooling from low‐level cloud tops weakens the cyclone by increasing boundary‐layer static stability, and that radiative cooling from high‐level cloud tops strengthens the cyclone by decreasing static stability in the upper troposphere and sharpening the tropopause. Our results indicate that clouds and the vertical distribution of their radiative heating and cooling can influence the dynamics of midlatitude cyclones. Plain Language Summary: The interaction of tiny cloud particles with even smaller photons leads to cooling and heating of the atmosphere. We use computer simulations to show that this cloud‐radiative cooling and heating changes the intensity of a midlatitude low‐pressure system. Clouds near the surface lead to a less intense low‐pressure system, while clouds in the upper troposphere, about 10 km above the surface, strengthen the low‐pressure system. Key Points: Radiative heating from high clouds leads to a stronger cyclone, radiative heating from low clouds leads to a weaker cycloneBecause of this tug‐of‐war, the overall effect of cloud‐radiative heating can be a stronger or weaker cycloneThe radiative impact of clouds can be understood from the effect on static stability
- Subjects
CYCLONES; ATMOSPHERIC models; HEATING; TROPOPAUSE; COOLING; TROPOSPHERE
- Publication
Geophysical Research Letters, 2023, Vol 50, Issue 14, p1
- ISSN
0094-8276
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2023GL103188