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Convective Self-Aggregation in Numerical Simulations: A Review

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. Video S1 and Video S2 from Wing et al. (2016) can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-15-0380.1.

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Acknowledgements

This paper arises from the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) workshop on “Shallow clouds and water vapor, circulation and climate sensitivity.” AAW acknowledges support from an National Science Foundation AGS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship under Award 1433251.

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  1. Allison A. Wing

    Present address: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA

    Allison A. Wing

  2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Kerry Emanuel

  3. University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Christopher E. Holloway

  4. Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

    Caroline Muller

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  1. Allison A. Wing
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Correspondence to Allison A. Wing.

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Wing, A.A., Emanuel, K., Holloway, C.E. et al. Convective Self-Aggregation in Numerical Simulations: A Review. Surv Geophys 38, 1173–1197 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-017-9408-4

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