Abstract
Studies have implicated the importance of longwave (LW) cloud-radiative
forcing (CRF) in facilitating or accelerating the upscale development of
tropical moist convection. While different cloud types are known to have
distinct CRF, their individual roles in driving upscale development
through radiative feedback is largely unexplored. We hypothesize that
CRF from stratiform regions will have the greatest effect on upscale
tropical convection. We test this hypothesis by analyzing output from
convection-permitting ensemble Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF)
model simulations of tropical cyclone formation. Using a novel
column-by-column cloud classification scheme introduced herein, we use
this model output to identify the relative contribution of five cloud
types (shallow, congestus, and deep convection; and stratiform and anvil
clouds) to the direct LW radiative forcing and the upscale development
of convection via LW moist static energy variance. Results indicate that
stratiform and anvil regions contribute dominantly to the domain
averages of these variables.