A Theory for Nonprecipitating Moist Convection between Two Parallel Plates. Part I: Thermodynamics and “Linear” Solutions

Abstract

A defining feature of moist convection is latent heating. A simple, mathematically tractable but thermody-namically reasonable Kuo-type model is developed to isolate some important effects of latent heating on the structure and organization of moist convection. Convection in a shallow, unsheared layer of viscous moist air between two rigid horizontal plates is examined. Unlike previous analytical work, a realistic thermodynamic equation is used, based on the assumption that no precipitation falls out of saturated air. This assumption isolates reversible latent heating from the complicating effects of precipitation. The crucial step is to express the buoyancy of moist air as a simple function of adiabatically conserved, linearly mixing properties of the air; this function is different in saturated than in unsaturated air. In Part I, the new model is used to find analytical solutions for infinitesimal motions in a conditionally unstable, exactly saturated atmosphere. As in previous work, the most unstable circulation is an isolated, cylin-drical, single updraft cloud, surrounded by an infinite expanse of subsiding clear air. In contrast to earlier work, strong downdrafts occur inside the cloud near its edge. In a separate note, it will be shown that all growing circulations of infinitesimal amplitude are station-no “linear” wave-CISK is possible. The most important prediction is that subsidence decays exponentially away from the cloud in a horizontal distance Rs. A simple approximate formula for Rs in terms of the growth rate, viscosity, and Coriolis parameter is derived and rationalized. The prediction of infinite cloud spacing will be resolved by a theory of finite-amplitude convection developed analytically in Part II and numerically in Part III, which predicts a finite minimum cloud spacing related to Rs and the strength of convection.