Structure of Convective Circulation in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean under a Subtropical High

Abstract

To confirm the structure of convective circulation in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) over the northwestern Pacific Ocean around the Southwest Islands of Japan under a subtropical high, we perform intensive observations using radiosonde and Aerosonde in August 2002 and high-resolution three-dimensional numerical simulations. A well-mixed subcloud layer exists below 0.7 km during the observation period. The absolute values of the correlation coefficient between anomalies in potential temperature and mixing ratio of water vapor are mainly small (less than 0.3) in the lower subcloud layer. The frequency of a positive correlation coefficient at a height of 0.1 km is only 46%. This suggests that fewer warm moist thermals exist in the lower subcloud layer.The simulation results using 100-m horizontal grid resolution show a moist air mass in updraft regions. These thermals are driven by positive buoyant flux, and this positive buoyancy is contributed by moisture, i.e., density anomalies in water vapor and dry air, instead of heat. This should be attributed to the supply of small sensible and abundant latent heat fluxes from the sea surface under the small air-sea temperature difference.