Fractional Entrainment Rate Research Articles

Parameterization of Stochastically Entraining Convection Using Machine Learning Technique

AbstractA stochastic mixing model with a machine learning technique is proposed for mass flux convection schemes. The model consists of the stochastic differential equations (SDEs) for the fractional entrainment rate, fractional detrainment rate, fractional dilution rate, and vertical acceleration. Unknowns in SDEs are parameterized using a deep neural network with the inputs of cloud and environment properties. The deep neural network is found to predict entrainment and detrainment rates better than previously proposed parameterizations. The new mixing model is implemented in a unified convection scheme (UNICON) and tested in a single‐column mode for two marine shallow convection cases. It is shown that the simulations with the new mixing model produce realistic mean and variance of various convective updraft properties and that the appropriate amount of stochasticity is generated. Consistently accurate simulations of updraft mass fluxes and moist conserved variables reduce model errors in the original UNICON. Additional sensitivity simulations enabling or disabling the stochasticity in mixing and initialization suggest that most of the cloud variabilities are generated from the mixing process.

Influences of Environmental Relative Humidity and Horizontal Scale of Subcloud Ascent on Deep Convective Initiation

AbstractThis study examines two factors impacting initiation of moist deep convection: free-tropospheric environmental relative humidity (ϕE) and horizontal scale of subcloud ascent (Rsub), the latter exerting a dominant control on cumulus cloud width. A simple theoretical model is used to formulate a “scale selection” hypothesis: that a minimumRsubis required for moist convection to go deep, and that this minimum scale decreases with increasingϕE. Specifically, the ratio ofto saturation deficit (1 −ϕE) must exceed a certain threshold value that depends on cloud-layer environmental lapse rate. Idealized, large-eddy simulations of moist convection forced by horizontally varying surface fluxes show strong sensitivity of maximum cumulus height to bothϕEandRsubconsistent with the hypothesis. IncreasingRsubby only 300–400 m can lead to a large increase (>5 km) in cloud height. A passive tracer analysis shows that the bulk fractional entrainment rate decreases rapidly withRsubbut depends little onϕE. However, buoyancy dilution increases as eitherRsuborϕEdecreases; buoyancy above the level of free convection is rapidly depleted in dry environments whenRsubis small. While deep convective initiation occurs with an increase in relative humidity of the near environment from moistening by earlier convection, the importance of this moisture preconditioning is inconclusive as it is accompanied by an increase inRsub. Overall, it is concluded that small changes toRsubdriven by external forcing or by convection itself could be a dominant regulator of deep convective initiation.

Implementation and Evaluation of a Double-Plume Convective Parameterization in NCAR CAM5

AbstractPerformance of global climate models (GCMs) is strongly affected by the cumulus parameterization (CP) used. Similar to the approach in GFDL AM4, a double-plume CP, which unifies the deep and shallow convection in one framework, is implemented and tested in the NCAR Community Atmospheric Model version 5 (CAM5). Based on the University of Washington (UW) shallow convection scheme, an additional plume was added to represent the deep convection. The shallow and deep plumes share the same cloud model, but use different triggers, fractional mixing rates, and closures. The scheme was tested in single-column, short-term hindcast, and AMIP simulations. Compared with the default combination of the Zhang–McFarlane scheme and UW scheme in CAM5, the new scheme tends to produce a top-heavy mass flux profile during the active monsoon period in the single-column simulations. The scheme increases the intensity of tropical precipitation, closer to TRMM observations. The new scheme increased subtropical marine boundary layer clouds and high clouds over the deep tropics, both in better agreement with observations. Sensitivity tests indicate that regime-dependent fractional entrainment rates of the deep plume are desired to improve tropical precipitation distribution and upper troposphere temperature. This study suggests that a double-plume approach is a promising way to combine shallow and deep convections in a unified framework.

Thermal Chains and Entrainment in Cumulus Updrafts. Part II: Analysis of Idealized Simulations

AbstractResearch has suggested that the structure of deep convection often consists of a series of rising thermals, or “thermal chain,” which contrasts with existing conceptual models that are used to construct cumulus parameterizations. Simplified theoretical expressions for updraft properties obtained in Part I of this study are used to develop a hypothesis explaining why this structure occurs. In this hypothesis, cumulus updraft structure is strongly influenced by organized entrainment below the updraft’s vertical velocity maximum. In a dry environment, this enhanced entrainment can locally reduce condensation rates and increase evaporation, thus eroding buoyancy. For moderate-to-large initial cloud radius R, this breaks up the updraft into a succession of discrete pulses of rising motion (i.e., a thermal chain). For small R, this leads to the structure of a single, isolated rising thermal. In contrast, moist environments are hypothesized to favor plume-like updrafts for moderate-to-large R. In a series of axisymmetric numerical cloud simulations, R and environmental relative humidity (RH) are systematically varied to test this hypothesis. Vertical profiles of fractional entrainment rate, passive tracer concentration, buoyancy, and vertical velocity from these runs agree well with vertical profiles calculated from the theoretical expressions in Part I. Analysis of the simulations supports the hypothesized dependency of updraft structure on R and RH, that is, whether it consists of an isolated thermal, a thermal chain, or a plume, and the role of organized entrainment in driving this dependency. Additional three-dimensional (3D) turbulent cloud simulations are analyzed, and the behavior of these 3D runs is qualitatively consistent with the theoretical expressions and axisymmetric simulations.

Are Supercells Resistant to Entrainment because of Their Rotation?

AbstractThis research investigates a hypothesis posed by previous authors, which argues that the helical nature of the flow in supercell updrafts makes them more resistant to entrainment than nonsupercellular updrafts because of the suppressed turbulence in purely helical flows. It was further supposed that this entrainment resistance contributes to the steadiness and longevity of supercell updrafts. A series of idealized large-eddy simulations were run to address this idea, wherein the deep-layer shear and hodograph shape were varied, resulting in supercells in the strongly sheared runs, nonsupercells in the weakly sheared runs, and variations in the percentage of streamwise vorticity in updrafts among runs. Fourier energy spectrum analyses show well-developed inertial subranges in all simulations, which suggests that the percentages of streamwise and crosswise vorticity have little effect on turbulence in convective environments. Additional analyses find little evidence of updraft-scale centrifugally stable flow within updrafts, which has also been hypothesized to limit horizontal mass flux across supercell updrafts. Results suggest that supercells do have smaller fractional entrainment rates than nonsupercells, but these differences are consistent with theoretical dependencies of entrainment on updraft width, and with supercells being wider than nonsupercells. Thus, while supercells do experience reduced fractional entrainment rates and entrainment-driven dilution, this advantage is primarily attributable to increased supercell updraft width relative to ordinary convection, and has little to do with updraft helicity and rotation.

Dynamics of Subsiding Shells in Actively Growing Clouds with Vertical Updrafts

Abstract The dynamics of a subsiding shell at the edges of actively growing shallow cumulus clouds with updrafts is analyzed using direct numerical simulation. The actively growing clouds have a fixed in-cloud buoyancy and velocity. Turbulent mixing and evaporative cooling at the cloud edges generate a subsiding shell that grows with time. A self-similar regime is observed for first- and second-order moments when normalized with respective maximum values. Internal scales derived from integral properties of the flow problem are identified. A self-similarity analysis using these scales reveals that contrary to classical self-similar flows, the turbulent kinetic energy budget terms and velocity moments scale according to the buoyancy and not with the mean velocity. The shell thickness is observed to increase linearly with time. The buoyancy scale remains time invariant and is set by the initial cloud–environment thermodynamics. The shell accelerates ballistically with a magnitude set by the saturation value of the buoyancy of the cloud–environment mixture. In this regime, the shell is buoyancy driven and independent of the in-cloud velocity. Relations are obtained for predicting the shell thickness and minimum velocities by linking the internal scales with external flow parameters. The values thus calculated are consistent with the thickness and velocities observed in typical shallow cumulus clouds. The entrainment coefficient is a function of the initial state of the cloud and the environment, and is shown to be on the same order of magnitude as fractional entrainment rates calculated for large-scale models.

Buoyancy‐driven entrainment in dry thermals

AbstractOver 50 years ago it was proposed that dry thermals entrain because of buoyancy (via a constraint which requires an increase in the radius a). However, this runs counter to the scaling arguments commonly used to derive the entrainment rate, which rely on either the self‐similarity or a turbulent entrainment hypothesis. The assumption of turbulence‐driven entrainment has been investigated and it has been found that the entrainment efficiency e varies by less than 20% between laminar (Re=630) and turbulent (Re=6300) thermals. This motivated us to utilize the argument of buoyancy‐controlled entrainment in addition to the thermal's vertical momentum equation to build a model for thermal dynamics which does not invoke turbulence or self‐similarity. We derive simple expressions for the thermals' kinematic properties and their fractional entrainment rate ϵ and find close quantitative agreement with the values in direct numerical simulations. In particular, our expression for entrainment rate is consistent with the parametrization ϵ∼B/w2, for Archimedean buoyancy B and vertical velocity w. We also directly validate the role of buoyancy‐driven entrainment by running simulations where gravity is turned off midway through a thermal's rise. The entrainment efficiency e is observed to drop to less than one third of its original value in both the laminar and turbulent cases when g=0, affirming the central role of buoyancy in entrainment for dry thermals.

A Kinematic Model for Understanding Rain Formation Efficiency of a Convective Cell

AbstractA pure theoretical investigation of convective rain formation processes and formation efficiency (FE) is performed using a kinematic one‐dimensional time‐dependent model with warm rain microphysics. FE is defined as the ratio of total cloud‐to‐rainwater conversion to total condensation. FE is a component of precipitation efficiency, which is an important but poorly understood parameter in idealized climate models. This model represents a cloud by a cylindrical thermal bubble rising at constant velocity. The model focuses on the interaction between auto‐conversion, collection, and lateral mixing about which no theory has been proposed. Taking the auto‐conversion threshold into account, a criterion for rain formation and a semianalytical approximate solution of FE are found. The auto‐conversion threshold limits the temporal and spatial extent of the “vigorous rain formation region” where most of the rain is produced. The collection and auto‐conversion compete with lateral mixing to determine the strength of rain formation within this region. The FE is predicted to be most sensitive to auto‐conversion threshold, fractional entrainment rate, and initial bubble water vapor density.

Evaluation of Shallow‐Cumulus Entrainment Rate Retrievals Using Large‐Eddy Simulation

AbstractA complete and quantitative understanding of cumulus entrainment remains elusive, in part due to the difficulty of directly observing cloud entrainment rates. Multiple approaches to ground‐based observational retrieval of bulk fractional entrainment rates (ε) within cumuli have been developed, such as the parcel model by Jensen and Del Genio (JDG, 2006, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3722.1) and Entrainment Rate In Cumulus Algorithm (ERICA) by Wagner et al. (2013, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-12-00187.1). In this paper, a new cumulus entrainment retrieval based on a turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) similarity theory is presented. This method estimates ε based on only the environmental and subcloud conditions. By conducting large‐eddy simulations of a range of continental and maritime shallow cumulus convection cases as Observing System Simulations Experiments, the first numerical verification of the three retrieval methods is produced. These simulations consider a broad range of shallow cumulus environments along with variations of the numerical configuration. The diagnosed ε from these simulations is found to be robustly larger in cumuli over the ocean than in cumuli over land. For continental cumuli, the experiments also reveal a diurnal cycle with increasing ε in the late afternoon. These diagnosed ε serve as the “truth” against which the pseudo‐retrieved entrainment rates from several different implementations of each retrieval are verified. Overall, the simpler JDG and TKE retrievals outperform the more sophisticated ERICA method and better capture the sensitivity to continentality. Only the TKE method reproduces the diurnal variations in ε within continental cumuli. The mean error in the ε retrievals are between 20% and 30% for the TKE and JDG methods, but 50% for ERICA.

On the Role of Entrainment in the Fate of Cumulus Thermals

Abstract Mixing is one of the most important processes associated with atmospheric moist convection. It determines the two-way interaction between clouds and their environment, thus having a direct impact on the time evolution of convection. The fractional entrainment rate ε—the main parameter related to mixing—is often parameterized in global circulation models as a function of updraft properties, and at the same time has a strong influence on how convection evolves. Within the framework of cumulus thermal vortices in large-eddy simulations of convection, here we first investigate the validity of some of the most common parameterizations of ε, and then investigate how relevant ε is for the fate of these thermals. We find that 1/R, where R is a measure of the thermal’s radius, best parameterizes ε, but it explains only about 20% of the total variance. On the other hand, we find that both ε and favorable initial conditions—including high initial saturated fraction of the thermals—are key factors that affect the thermals’ ascent rate, mean buoyancy, and distance traveled. The lifetimes of thermals, however, seem not to be affected significantly by either ε or initial conditions, which supports the view of cumulus convection as a succession of many short-lived thermals. Finally, our results suggest that for the majority of in-cloud cumulus thermals the important role of environmental moisture in the deepening of convection results mainly from providing the initial moisture for the short-lived thermals as they initiate at different altitudes above cloud base, rather than favoring their buoyancy as they rise through it.

Dependence of entrainment in shallow cumulus convection on vertical velocity and distance to cloud edge

AbstractThe dependence of entrainment rate on environmental conditions and cloud characteristics is investigated using large eddy simulations (LES) of the response of shallow cumulus convection to a small‐amplitude temperature perturbation that is horizontally uniform and localized in height. The simulated cumulus fields are analyzed in the framework of an ensemble of entraining plumes by tracking a large number of Lagrangian parcels embedded in the LES and grouping them into different plumes based on their detrainment heights. The results show that fractional entrainment rate per unit height of a plume is inversely proportional to the plume's vertical velocity and its distance to the cloud edge, while changes in environmental stratification and relative humidity, the plume's buoyancy, or the vertical gradient of its buoyancy due to the temperature perturbation have little effect on the plume's entrainment rate.

Estimation of convective entrainment properties from a cloud-resolving model simulation during TWP-ICE

The fractional entrainment rate in convective clouds is an important parameter in current convective parameterization schemes of climate models. In this paper, it is estimated using a 1-km-resolution cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulation of convective clouds from TWP-ICE (the Tropical Warm Pool-International Cloud Experiment). The clouds are divided into different types, characterized by cloud-top heights. The entrainment rates and moist static energy that is entrained or detrained are determined by analyzing the budget of moist static energy for each cloud type. Results show that the entrained air is a mixture of approximately equal amount of cloud air and environmental air, and the detrained air is a mixture of ~80 % of cloud air and 20 % of the air with saturation moist static energy at the environmental temperature. After taking into account the difference in moist static energy between the entrained air and the mean environment, the estimated fractional entrainment rate is much larger than those used in current convective parameterization schemes. High-resolution (100 m) large-eddy simulation of TWP-ICE convection was also analyzed to support the CRM results. It is shown that the characteristics of entrainment rates estimated using both the high-resolution data and CRM-resolution coarse-grained data are similar. For each cloud category, the entrainment rate is high near cloud base and top, but low in the middle of clouds. The entrainment rates are best fitted to the inverse of in-cloud vertical velocity by a second order polynomial.

Role of Convective Entrainment in Spatial Distributions of and Temporal Variations in Precipitation over Tropical Oceans

Abstract The authors demonstrate that an appropriate treatment of convective entrainment is essential for determining spatial distributions of and temporal variations in precipitation. Four numerical experiments are performed using atmospheric models with different entrainment characteristics: a control experiment (Ctl), a no-entrainment experiment (NoEnt), an original Arakawa–Schubert experiment (AS), and an AS experiment with a simple empirical suppression of convection depending on cloud-layer humidity (ASRH). The fractional entrainment rates of AS and ASRH are constant for each cloud type and are very small in the lower troposphere compared with those in the Ctl, in which half of the buoyancy-generated energy is consumed by entrainment. Spatial and temporal variations in the observed precipitation are satisfactorily reproduced in the Ctl, but their amplitudes are underestimated with a so-called double intertropical convergence zone bias in the NoEnt and AS. The spatial variation is larger in the Ctl because convection is more active over humid ascending regions and more suppressed over dry subsidence regions. Feedback processes involving convection, the large-scale circulation, free tropospheric moistening by congestus, and radiation enhance the variations. The temporal evolution of precipitation events is also more realistic in the Ctl, because congestus moistens the midtroposphere, and large precipitation events occur once sufficient moisture is available. The large entrainment in the lower troposphere, increasing free tropospheric moistening by congestus and enhancing the coupling of convection to free tropospheric humidity, is suggested to be important for the realistic spatial and temporal variations.

An Analytical Model for Tropical Relative Humidity

Abstract An analytical model is derived for tropical relative humidity using only the Clausius–Clapeyron relation, hydrostatic balance, and a bulk-plume water budget. This theory is constructed for radiative–convective equilibrium and compared against a cloud-resolving model. With some reinterpretation of variables, it can be applied more generally to the entire tropics. Given four variables—pressure, temperature, and the fractional entrainment and detrainment rates—the equations predict the relative humidity (RH) and the temperature lapse rate analytically. The RH is a simple ratio involving the fractional detrainment rate and the water-vapor lapse rate. When integrated upward in height, the equations give profiles of RH and temperature for a convecting atmosphere. The theory explains the magnitude of RH and the “C” shape of the tropospheric RH profile. It also predicts that RH is an invariant function of temperature as the atmosphere warms, and this behavior matches what has been seen in global climate models and what is demonstrated here with cloud-resolving simulations. Extending the theory to include the evaporation of hydrometeors, a lower bound is derived for the precipitation efficiency (PE) at each height: PE > 1 − RH. In a cloud-resolving simulation, this constraint is obeyed with the PE profile taking the shape of an inverted C shape.

Direct entrainment and detrainment rate distributions of individual shallow cumulus clouds in an LES

Abstract. Probability distribution functions of shallow cumulus cloud core entrainment and detrainment rates are calculated using 4362 individual cumulus clouds isolated from LES (large eddy simulation) using a cloud tracking algorithm. Calculation of the mutual information between fractional entrainment/detrainment and a variety of mean cloud core properties suggests that fractional entrainment rate is best predicted by the mean cloud buoyancy B and the environmental buoyancy lapse rate dθρ/dz at that level, while fractional detrainment is best predicted by the mean vertical velocity w and the critical mixing fraction χc. Fractional entrainment and detrainment rates are relatively insensitive to cloud core horizontal area, and the perimeter of horizontal cloud core sections display an a0.73 dependence. This implies that cloud core mass entrainment flux E is proportional to cloud core cross-sectional area instead of cloud core surface area, as is generally assumed. Empirical best-fit relations for ε(B, dθρ/dz and δ(w, χc) are found for both individual shallow cumulus clouds and cloud ensembles. It is found that clouds with high buoyancy in strong stratification experience low entrainment rates, while clouds with high vertical velocities and critical mixing fractions experience low detrainment rates.

Ground-Based Remote Retrievals of Cumulus Entrainment Rates

Abstract While fractional entrainment rates for cumulus clouds have typically been derived from airborne observations, this limits the size and scope of available datasets. To increase the number of continental cumulus entrainment rate observations available for study, an algorithm for retrieving them from ground-based remote sensing observations has been developed. This algorithm, called the Entrainment Rate In Cumulus Algorithm (ERICA), uses the suite of instruments at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site of the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program (ARM) Climate Research Facility as inputs into a Gauss–Newton optimal estimation scheme, in which an assumed guess of the entrainment rate is iteratively adjusted through intercomparison of modeled cloud attributes to their observed counterparts. The forward model in this algorithm is the explicit mixing parcel model (EMPM), a cloud parcel model that treats entrainment as a series of discrete entrainment events. A quantified value for the uncertainty in the retrieved entrainment rate is also returned as part of the retrieval. Sensitivity testing and information content analysis demonstrate the robust nature of this method for retrieving accurate observations of the entrainment rate without the drawbacks of airborne sampling. Results from a test of ERICA on 3 months of shallow cumulus cloud events show significant variability of the entrainment rate of clouds in a single day and from one day to the next. The mean value of 1.06 km−1 for the entrainment rate in this dataset corresponds well with prior observations and simulations of the entrainment rate in cumulus clouds.

Empirical relationship between entrainment rate and microphysics in cumulus clouds

The relationships between fractional entrainment rate and key microphysical quantities (e.g., liquid water content, droplet number concentration, volume mean radius, and standard deviation of cloud droplet size distributions) in shallow cumuli are empirically examined using in situ aircraft observations from the Routine Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Aerial Facility Clouds with Low Optical Water Depths Optical Radiative Observations (RACORO) field campaign over the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains site. The results show that the microphysical quantities examined generally exhibit strong relationships with entrainment rate and that the relationships collectively suggest the dominance of homogeneous entrainment mixing, which is unfavorable to the formation of large droplets and the initiation of warm rain in the clouds. The dominance of the homogeneous mixing mechanism is further substantiated by the dependency on entrainment rate of relationships among various microphysical variables and of cloud droplet size distributions. The dominance of this mechanism is also quantitatively confirmed by examining the degree of homogeneous mixing in the clouds. The dominance of homogeneous mixing may be an important reason why none of the cumulus clouds studied was drizzling.

CAPE in Tropical Cyclones

Abstract Convective available potential energy (CAPE) and the vertical distribution of buoyancy were calculated for more than 2000 dropsonde soundings collected by the NOAA Gulfstream-IV aircraft. Calculations were done with and without the effects of condensate loading, entrainment, and the latent heat of fusion. CAPE showed larger values downshear than upshear within 400 km of the center, consistent with the observed variation of convective intensity. The larger downshear CAPE arose from (i) higher surface specific humidity, (ii) lower midtropospheric temperature, and, for entraining CAPE, (iii) larger free-tropospheric relative humidity. Reversible CAPE had only one-half the magnitude of pseudoadiabatic CAPE. As shown previously, reversible CAPE with fusion closely resembled pseudoadiabatic CAPE without fusion. Entrainment had the most dramatic impact. Entraining CAPE was consistent with the observed radial distribution of convective intensity, displaying the largest values downshear at inner radii. Without entrainment, downshear CAPE was smallest in the core and increased outward to the 600-km radius. The large number of sondes allowed the examination of soundings at the 90th percentile of conditional instability, which reflect the conditions leading to the most vigorous updrafts. Observations of convection in tropical cyclones prescribe the correct method for calculating this conditional instability. In particular, the abundance and distribution of vigorous deep convection is most accurately reflected by calculating CAPE with condensate retention and a fractional entrainment rate in the range of 5%–10% km−1.

The Tropical Subseasonal Variability Simulated in the NASA GISS General Circulation Model

Abstract The tropical subseasonal variability simulated by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies general circulation model, Model E2, is examined. Several versions of Model E2 were developed with changes to the convective parameterization in order to improve the simulation of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO). When the convective scheme is modified to have a greater fractional entrainment rate, Model E2 is able to simulate MJO-like disturbances with proper spatial and temporal scales. Increasing the rate of rain reevaporation has additional positive impacts on the simulated MJO. The improvement in MJO simulation comes at the cost of increased biases in the mean state, consistent in structure and amplitude with those found in other GCMs when tuned to have a stronger MJO. By reinitializing a relatively poor-MJO version with restart files from a relatively better-MJO version, a series of 30-day integrations is constructed to examine the impacts of the parameterization changes on the organization of tropical convection. The poor-MJO version with smaller entrainment rate has a tendency to allow convection to be activated over a broader area and to reduce the contrast between dry and wet regimes so that tropical convection becomes less organized. Besides the MJO, the number of tropical-cyclone-like vortices simulated by the model is also affected by changes in the convection scheme. The model simulates a smaller number of such storms globally with a larger entrainment rate, while the number increases significantly with a greater rain reevaporation rate.

Invigoration of cumulus cloud fields by mesoscale ascent

AbstractLarge‐eddy simulations of trade‐wind cumuli impinging on an idealized island ridge are conducted to investigate the impact of mesoscale ascent on the morphology and vigour of cumulus convection. The simulations develop realistic cloud fields that invigorate when forced to ascend the high terrain despite being trapped beneath a sinking trade‐wind inversion. Two upstream cloud regimes are considered, the first non‐precipitating and the second lightly precipitating. Focus is placed on the precipitating case, where the island gives rise to a dramatic (15‐fold) precipitation enhancement compared to the upstream ocean. This arises from (i) an increased concentration of buoyant updraughts, (ii) the ‘lapse‐rate’ mechanism, wherein saturated parcels gain buoyancy as they ascend alongside dry parcels with different adiabatic lapse rates, and (iii) the ‘cloud‐size’ mechanism, wherein the fractional entrainment rate decreases due to an increase in the mean horizontal cloud size. Although the first two mechanisms have received previous attention, the third is novel and potentially important. The broader clouds within the ascending airstream possess less dilute and more buoyant inner core regions that ascend faster through the cloud layer. Moreover, the increased liquid‐water supplies and longer residence times of raindrops within these clouds lead to a sharp enhancement in the precipitation efficiency. The island cloud broadening is favoured by the presence of broad water‐vapour anomalies within the impinging airstream that are mechanically lifted to saturation, along with basic energetic constraints that support wider, less dilute clouds in areas of rapid forced ascent. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society