A study of the response of deep tropical clouds to mesoscale processes - Three-dimensional numerical experiments

A three-dimensional numerical cloud model is utilized to study the collective feedback effects of cloud systems on the large-scale environment. The characteristic features of the cloud ensemble model are described. The model is applied to a case of a well-defined ITCZ rainband over the eastern tropical Atlantic ocean. The location, number, and configuration of the clouds that formed in the model during the simulations are examined. The cloud heating and moistening, environmental wind shear, and vertical transports of momentum are analyzed. The collective feedbacks of cloud systems on the large-scale temperature, moisture, and horizontal momentum fields are computed after each simulation. The effect of the pressure gradient force on the v-momentum flux is investigated. It is observed that there is good correlation between the model simulations and the observed data.