Environmental controls on pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus initiation and development
Item
Title (Dublin Core)
Environmental controls on pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus initiation and development
Description (Dublin Core)
In this paper we present the first direct observational evidence that the condensation level in pyrocumulus and pyrocumulonimbus clouds can be significantly higher than the ambient lifted condensation level. In addition, we show that the environmental thermodynamic profile, day-to-day variations in humidity, and ambient wind shear all exert significant influence over the onset and development of pyroconvective clouds. These findings are established using a scanning Doppler lidar and mobile radiosonde system during two large wildfires in northern California, the Bald Fire and the Rocky Fire. The lidar is used to distinguish liquid water from smoke backscatter during the plume rise, and thus provides a direct detection of plume condensations levels. Plume tops are subsequently determined from both the lidar and nearby radar observations. The radiosonde data, obtained adjacent to the fires, contextualize the lidar and radar observations, and enable estimates of the plume ascent, convective available potential energy, and equilibrium level. A noteworthy finding is that in these cases, the convective condensation level, not the lifted condensation level, provides the best estimate of the pyrocumulus initiation height.
Creator (Dublin Core)
Lareau, Neil P.
Clements, Craig B.
Date (Dublin Core)
2018-09-08
Type (Dublin Core)
Text
Format (Dublin Core)
application/pdf
Identifier (Dublin Core)
10.5194/acp-16-4005-2016
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/16/4005/2016/
Source (Dublin Core)
eISSN: 1680-7324
Language (Dublin Core)
eng
