Nissen, Silas Boye and Haerter, Jan O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8617-3847 (2021) Circling in on Convective Self‐Aggregation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 126 (20). e2021JD035331. DOI https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035331.

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Abstract

In radiative-convective equilibrium simulations, convective self-aggregation (CSA) is the spontaneous organization into segregated cloudy and cloud-free regions. Evidence exists for how CSA is stabilized, but how it arises favorably on large domains is not settled. Using large-eddy simulations, we link the spatial organization emerging from the interaction of cold pools (CPs) to CSA. We systematically weaken simulated rain evaporation to reduce maximal CP radii, Rmax , and find reducing Rmax causes CSA to occur earlier. We further identify a typical rain cell generation time and a minimum radius, Rmin, around a given rain cell, within which the formation of subsequent rain cells is suppressed. Incorporating Rmin and Rmax , we propose a toy model that captures how CSA arises earlier on large domains: when two CPs of radii ri, rj ∈ [Rmin, Rmax] collide, they form a new convective event. These findings imply that interactions between CPs may explain the initial stages of CSA

Document Type:	Article
Programme Area:	PA2
Research affiliation:	Integrated Modelling > Complexity and Climate
Refereed:	Yes
Open Access Journal?:	No
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JD035331
ISSN:	2169-897X
Date Deposited:	12 Oct 2021 12:45
Last Modified:	04 Mar 2026 16:10
URI:	https://cris.leibniz-zmt.de/id/eprint/4740

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