Breakout Summary Report
ARM/ASR User and PI Meeting
10 - 13 June 2019
13 June 2019
1:30 PM - 4:00 PM
40
Adam Varble and Mike Jensen
Breakout Description
The convective processes working group focuses on improving understanding and model representation of convective (heat-transferring) cloud processes and properties, including cloud cover, precipitation, life cycle, dynamics, and microphysics, over a range of spatial scales. Research areas include:- Convective vertical velocity (upward heat transfer) and interactions with cloud microphysics and precipitation
- Shallow to deep cloud transitions and organization of convective clouds on larger scales
- Interactions between cloud microphysics, aerosols, precipitation, and radiation
Through group discussions focused on the aforementioned topics, we seek to:
- Identify guiding science questions based on model inadequacies that will use ARM observations and support ASR programmatic objectives.
- Facilitate and enhance efforts of individual ASR-funded projects through organization of smaller groups around focused research goals from which collaborations can be forged.
- Identify and prioritize past, current, and future ARM field campaigns, measurement strategies, and data products that will most benefit group objectives.
Main Discussion
Agenda:
Working Group Overview (1:30-1:40. Adam Varble)
Review of Breakout Sessions and Research Highlights (1:40-2:15, Adam Varble/Mike Jensen)
DOE Lab SFA Convective Processes Talks (2:15-3:00)
- LLNL (Steve Klein)
- BNL (Mike Jensen)
- PNNL (Samson Hagos)
Discussion of Pre-Meeting Survey Questions (3:00-3:25)
- Does the ongoing research in ASR reflect overarching critical needs for improving understanding and model representation of deep convective processes? Do upcoming ARM field campaigns and IOPS? Why or why not?
- Can communication and collaboration between ASR projects, both lab and non-lab, be improved for mutual benefit, and if so, how? As an example, should we organize specific focus groups with dedicated breakouts and/or regular telecons?
Review of Relevant ARM Products and Plans (3:25-3:35, Scott Collis)
Discussion of Pre-Meeting Survey Questions (3:35-4:00)
- Which observations and products are most needed (currently existing or not) to make progress on improving understanding and model representation of deep convective processes? Are these adequately provided by ARM or another agency?
- Are existing ARM data and products easy to access and understand? Is ARM data quality and availability sufficient for your needs? Do you have any recommendations for improvement in these area?
Key Findings
The SFA talks worked well in highlighting ongoing work at labs with possibilities for collaboration. A lively discussion followed with the following points being made:- The general feeling is that the convective processes ongoing within ASR are appropriate and important. However, it was noted that the community is likely biased in that they are the ones that proposed and are performing that research. The recommendation was that we should seek feedback from outside the ARM-ASR community. The best avenue for achieving this could be a workshop in which targeted individuals from other research communities are invited to provide their perspectives on convective processes areas where progress can be made that are relevant to climate prediction.
- There is widespread support for a topical workshop that is more focused and comprehensive than the breakout sessions at the annual meeting.
- Along the lines of workshops, there is some feeling that it is important to regularly get groups of people together in person and/or through teleconferencing from a diversity of backgrounds (i.e., modeling, measurements) to work together on specific topics. This will help to limit the misuse of advanced observational products and improve the appropriateness of model-observation comparison and integration. Additionally, this would help people to congregate around periods of particular interest (e.g., epochs) where several complementary, high-quality data products exist.
- Convective kinematics and microphysics measurements were again highlighted as being one of the most critical, if not the most critical, measurements to the working group, especially if they are co-located. There was also a lot of support for improving spatio-temporal characterization of environmental thermodynamic conditions (e.g., through boundary sites and more support for remote-sensing retrievals at low-mid levels) that are not sampled well by discrete soundings or single locations but which strongly govern clouds evolving over space and time periods rather than at a single location and time.
- It was mentioned that we often have lessons learned from field campaigns, but do not revisit locations twice to perform an improved version of a previous campaign where questions were unanswered because of limited sampling, insufficient instrumentation/retrievals, or a host of other reasons. For deep convection, which is by its nature relatively infrequent for any one location, less frequent yet for a given type or stage of deep convection, and dependent on complex scanning radar retrievals, this is something that should be considered.
Issues
The group lacks organization around subtopics, and the session over the past couple of years has been insufficient for solving this issue.
An additional issue was the limited number of participants in the session. It was unclear whether this was primarily a result of the session being Thursday afternoon, competition with the concurrent working group sessions, or that the group has actually shrunk in size.
Needs
The group needs to find pathways for collaboration around more focused topics deemed as important to ASR where significant progress is possible. This will be facilitated via the action item listed below.
In addition, as is the case every year, the group was in near unanimous agreement that more focus is needed in developing retrievals of cloud dynamics (e.g., vertical velocity) and microphysics (e.g., hydrometeor phase, mass, number). However, additional thermodynamic profiling capabilities covering multiple sites was also raised as being important given the limited number of deep convective clouds that form and/or grow in close proximity to a single site and the first order impact of thermodynamics on convective cloud evolution. There is widespread support for the planned development of cell tracking with scanning radars to follow time evolution of convective properties.