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Insights into the relation between vertical cloud structure and dynamics of three polar lows: Observations from COMBLE


Abstract The vertical structure of three polar lows is described using profiling radar, lidar, and passive remote sensors deployed at a coastal site in northern Norway. The data were collected as part of the Cold‐air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE). These data are examined in the context of satellite imagery, operational weather radar reflectivity imagery, and output from the AROME Arctic model. A comparison to satellite images shows that AROME‐Arctic captured the polar lows well. All three polar lows form in marine cold‐air outbreaks and are surrounded by open‐cellular convection typical of such outbreaks. Two of the lows form in a forward shear environment and one under reverse shear. Initially, the three polar lows are comma shaped; two of them transition to be more spiraliform at their mature stage and have mostly cloud‐free warm cores. The warm cores are the result of a warm‐seclusion process. All three lows have stratiform precipitation bands, marked by little cloud liquid water, and rather high surface precipitation rate. The vertical drafts and turbulence in these stratiform clouds are generally weak. All three lows also have convective clouds, which have stronger vertical drafts, stronger turbulence, and pockets of high liquid water content.
Authors Christian Philipp Lackner University of WyomingORCID , Bart Geerts University of WyomingORCID , Yonggang Wang ORCID , Timothy W. Juliano ORCID , Lulin Xue ORCID , Branko Kosović ORCID , David D. Turner ORCID
Journal Info Wiley-Blackwell | Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society , vol: 149 , iss: 756 , pages: 2992 - 3013
Publication Date 8/21/2023
ISSN 0035-9009
TypeKeyword Image article
Open Access closed Closed Access
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.4543
KeywordsKeyword Image Satellite Observations (Score: 0.469437)