Case: 07 December 2015

Summary

Widespread open cellular cumulus event with a low melting level

Description

This was a widespread open cell cumulus event that followed frontal passage on the previous day. Strong westerly boundary layer winds (up to 40 kts) were observed, yet these winds decreased in intensity (to 10 kts) and shifted northwesterly during the event. The melting level was observed at approximately 1.6 km AGL, whereas cloud echo top heights consistently were observed approximately 1 km above that height. Several of the precipitating cells passed over the ENA main site, with more frequent cell overpasses during the first half of this day.

Available assets

Standard ARM profiling assets, SEVIRI. RLPROF-FEX

Critical period: 03:00-09:00

Several intense and precipitating cells passing over the main ARM ENA site

Figure 23 True color afternoon MODIS AQUA image with overlaid LES domains. The image area corresponds to the 5° region sampled for the larger forcing option. The yellow and orange boxes correspond to the sizes of the 25 km and 102 km LES domains, respectively.