Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Wing, Allison A.
• Emanuel, Kerry
• Holloway, Christopher E.
• Muller, Caroline

Titel

Convective Self-Aggregation in Numerical Simulations: A Review

Ist Teil von

• Surveys in geophysics, 2017-11, Vol.38 (6), p.1173-1197

Ort / Verlag

Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

SpringerLink (Online service)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Organized convection in the tropics occurs across a range of spatial and temporal scales and strongly influences cloud cover and humidity. One mode of organization found is “self-aggregation,” in which moist convection spontaneously organizes into one or several isolated clusters despite spatially homogeneous boundary conditions and forcing. Self-aggregation is driven by interactions between clouds, moisture, radiation, surface fluxes, and circulation, and occurs in a wide variety of idealized simulations of radiative–convective equilibrium. Here we provide a review of convective self-aggregation in numerical simulations, including its character, causes, and effects. We describe the evolution of self-aggregation including its time and length scales and the physical mechanisms leading to its triggering and maintenance, and we also discuss possible links to climate and climate change.