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Precipitable water as a predictor of LCL height

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Abstract

Based on the precipitable water observations easily available from in situ and remote sensing sensors, a simple approach to define the lifting condensation level (LCL) is proposed in this study. High-resolution radiosonde and microwave radiometer observations over peninsular Indian region during the Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment Integrated Ground Observational Campaign (CAIPEEX-IGOC) during the monsoon season of 2011 are used to illustrate the unique relationship. The inferences illustrate a linear relationship between the precipitable water (PW) and the LCL temperature. This relationship is especially valuable because PW is easily available as a derived parameter from various remote sensing and ground-based observations. Thus, it could be used to estimate the LCL height and perhaps also the boundary layer height. LCL height and PW correlations are established from historical radiosonde data (1984–2012). This finding could be used to illustrate the boundary layer-cloud interactions during the monsoon and is important for parameterization of boundary layer clouds in numerical models. The relationships are illustrated to be robust and seem promising to get reasonable estimates of the LCL height over other locations as well using satellite observations of PW.

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Acknowledgments

The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and the CAIPEEX experiment are fully funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES), Government of India, New Delhi. N. Malap would like to acknowledge the support from MoES to SP University of Pune through the CTCZ project to Dr. Anand Karipot.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune, 411008, India

    P. Murugavel, N. Malap, B. Balaji & T. V. Prabha

  2. Department of Atmospheric and Space Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, India

    N. Malap

  3. Science and Engineering Research Board, New Delhi, India

    R. K. Mehajan

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  1. P. Murugavel
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  2. N. Malap
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  3. B. Balaji
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  4. R. K. Mehajan
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  5. T. V. Prabha
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Correspondence to T. V. Prabha.

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Murugavel, P., Malap, N., Balaji, B. et al. Precipitable water as a predictor of LCL height. Theor Appl Climatol 130, 467–476 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1872-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-016-1872-0

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