Da Yang
University of California, Davis / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
"A boundary layer framework for convective self-aggregation"
The atmosphere can self-organize into long-lasting large-scale overturning circulations over an ocean surface with uniform temperature. This phenomenon is referred to as convective self-aggregation and has been argued to be important for tropical weather and climate systems. Here I present a boundary layer centric framework. This framework is built up on the weak buoyancy gradient (WBG) approximation in the free troposphere. As an indirect effect of WBG, boundary layer diabatic processes dominate the production of available potential energy (APE), which is required for development of convective self-aggregation. This framework, therefore, predicts that boundary-layer diabatic processes are key to convective self-aggregation. Using this framework, I will also propose a scaling theory for what sets the horizontal scale of convective self-aggregation.
Host: Ding Ma
