Buoyancy statistics in moist turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection

Abstract

We study shallow moist Rayleigh-Benard convection in the Boussinesq approximation in three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. The thermodynamics of phase changes is approximated by a piecewise linear equation of state close to the phase boundary. The impact of phase changes on the turbulent fluctuations and the transfer of buoyancy through the layer is discussed as a function of the Rayleigh number and the ability to form liquid water. The enhanced buoyancy flux due to phase changes is compared with dry convection reference cases and related to the cloud cover in the convection layer. This study indicates that the moist Rayleigh-Benard problem offers a practical framework for the development and evaluation of parametrizations for atmospheric convection.

9 Pages, 6 Postscript figures, Corrections are added

References in corpus (3)

• Enhanced heat transport by turbulent two-phase Rayleigh-Bénard convection
• Lagrangian studies in convective turbulence
• Wind and boundary layers in Rayleigh-Benard convection. I: analysis and modeling

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• Rayleigh-Benard convection with phase changes in a Galerkin model
• Moist turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions
• On the Linear Stability of Partially and Fully Saturated Atmospheres to Moist Convection
• Fluid dynamics in clouds: The sum of its parts