Specification of the Scale and Magnitude of Thermals Used to Initiate Convection in Cloud Models

Abstract

Boundary layer similarity techniques are employed to specify the scale and intensity of a thermal perturbation used to initialize a cloud in a numerical cloud model. Techniques are outlined to specify the needed similarity variables from external information. Finally, the cloud model response using the similarity scaled thermal is analyzed employing variations in the similarity variables giving an indication of the importance of the correct specification of the initiating thermal.