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EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation

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Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity

Part of the book series: Space Sciences Series of ISSI ((SSSI,volume 65))

Abstract

Trade-wind cumuli constitute the cloud type with the highest frequency of occurrence on Earth, and it has been shown that their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions will critically influence the magnitude and pace of future global warming. Research over the last decade has pointed out the importance of the interplay between clouds, convection and circulation in controling this sensitivity. Numerical models represent this interplay in diverse ways, which translates into different responses of tradecumuli to climate perturbations. Climate models predict that the area covered by shallow cumuli at cloud base is very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, while process models suggest the opposite. To understand and resolve this contradiction, we propose to organize a field campaign aimed at quantifying the physical properties of tradecumuli (e.g., cloud fraction and water content) as a function of the large-scale environment. Beyond a better understanding of clouds-circulation coupling processes, the campaign will provide a reference data set that may be used as a benchmark for advancing the modelling and the satellite remote sensing of clouds and circulation. It will also be an opportunity for complementary investigations such as evaluating model convective parameterizations or studying the role of ocean mesoscale eddies in air–sea interactions and convective organization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Aure´lien Bourdon, the CNRS-Me´te´o-France-CNES SAFIRE facility for the scientific airborne operations (http://www.safire.fr), Didier Bruneau and Jacques Pelon for technical discussions, and the professional ULA pilot Franck Toussaint and the Air Creation company for having made the ULA-borne lidar tests possible. The paper benefited from stimulating discussions at the International Space Science Institute (ISSI) workshop on ‘‘Shallow clouds and water vapour, circulation and climate sensitivity’’. The EUREC4A project is supported by the European Research Council (ERC), under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 694768), by the Max Planck Society and by DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, German Research Foundation) Priority Program SPP 1294.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LMD/IPSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, UPMC, 4 Place Jussieu, 75252, Paris, France

    Sandrine Bony

  2. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Bundesstr. 53, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Bjorn Stevens, Lutz Hirsch, James H. Ruppert Jr. & Raphaela Vogel

  3. LSCE/IPSL, CNRS-CEA-UVSQ, CEA Saclay, 91191, Gif sur Yvette, France

    Patrick Chazette & Julien Totems

  4. University of Hamburg, Bundesstrasse 55, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Felix Ament

  5. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 266 Woods Hole Rd, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Sebastien Bigorre

  6. University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923, Cologne, Germany

    Susanne Crewell

  7. LATMOS/IPSL, CNRS-UPMC-UVSQ, 11 Boulevard D’Alembert, 78280, Guyancourt, France

    Julien Delanoë & Cyrille Flamant

  8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachussetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Kerry Emanuel

  9. Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, P.O. Box 130, Bridgetown, Barbados

    David Farrell

  10. German Aerospace Center, Múnchener Str. 20, 82234, Oberpfaffenhofen-Wessling, Germany

    Silke Gross & Martin Wirth

  11. GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Johannes Karstensen

  12. Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, Theresienstrasse 37, 80333, Munich, Germany

    Bernhard Mayer

  13. Delft University of Technology, P.O. Box 5048, 2600, Delft, GA, The Netherlands

    Louise Nuijens

  14. ECMWF, Shinfield Park, RG2 9AX, Reading, UK

    Irina Sandu

  15. LMD/IPSL, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231, Paris, France

    Sabrina Speich

  16. Delft University of Technology and Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Netherlands

    Pier Siebesma

  17. Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique, UMR6016, CNRS, Aubière, France

    Frédéric Szczap

  18. University of Leipzig, Stephanstr. 3, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Manfred Wendisch

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  1. Sandrine Bony
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sandrine Bony .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder , Boulder, Colorado, USA

    Robert Pincus

  2. Atmospheric Sciences, NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Sciences, HAMPTON, Virginia, USA

    David Winker

  3. Institute Pierre Simon Laplace, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique , Paris, France

    Sandrine Bony

  4. Max Planck Institute for Meteorology , Hamburg, Germany

    Bjorn Stevens

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Bony, S. et al. (2017). EUREC4A: A Field Campaign to Elucidate the Couplings Between Clouds, Convection and Circulation. In: Pincus, R., Winker, D., Bony, S., Stevens, B. (eds) Shallow Clouds, Water Vapor, Circulation, and Climate Sensitivity. Space Sciences Series of ISSI, vol 65. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77273-8_16

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