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Convectively Induced Secondary Circulations and Wind‐Driven Heat Fluxes in the Surface Energy Balance Over Land
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Convectively Induced Secondary Circulations and Wind‐Driven Heat Fluxes in the Surface Energy Balance Over Land
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Journal Article
Convectively Induced Secondary Circulations and Wind‐Driven Heat Fluxes in the Surface Energy Balance Over Land
2024
Overview
Increased resolution has enabled kilometer‐scale weather and climate models to partially resolve secondary circulations, including horizontal convective rolls (HCRs) and cold pool gust fronts. Although these circulations are ubiquitous in convective boundary layers over land, their impacts on the surface energy balance are largely unknown. Doppler lidar and surface observations were combined with DOE E3SM land model experiments, revealing increased surface winds (5 m/s) and heat fluxes (50 W/m2) in convergent branches of HCRs. Larger wind‐driven flux responses (up to 150 W/m2) were found along gust fronts. Surface energy balance shifts to accommodate wind‐driven fluxes, reducing ground heat conduction and longwave cooling. Our findings from the US Southern Great Plains are broadly relevant to modeling convective boundary layers. In particular, widely used subgrid wind gust parameterizations were found to be physically inconsistent with resolved secondary circulations and could worsen climate prediction biases at kilometer‐scales. Plain Language Summary Earth's surface is heated by solar radiation, and this energy is transferred to the overlying air in the form of sensible and latent heat fluxes. Surface heat fluxes are generated by turbulent motions that are too small to be directly simulated in weather and climate models. Instead, models use mathematical functions, known as parameterizations, to predict surface fluxes from simulated winds and surface‐to‐air differences in moisture and temperature. Observed winds near Earth's surface are known to organize into patterns referred to as secondary circulations, creating frequently observed “cloud streets,” and influencing the soaring patterns of birds. With increasing computational power, weather, and climate models have begun to resolve these circulations in winds simulated at kilometer scales. Although they are widely observed, this study provides new evidence that secondary circulations significantly alter surface heat fluxes and the energy balance of the land surface. It is also shown that current parameterizations of wind‐driven heat fluxes can be made more realistic to improve predictions in weather and climate models that are run at kilometer‐scale spatial resolutions. Key Points Lidar and surface wind measurements provide evidence linking widely observed secondary circulations to surface wind gusts The circulations alter the land surface energy balance and increase surface heat fluxes in convergent branches of circulation updrafts Land model parameterizations are inconsistent with resolved circulations, pointing to needed improvements at kilometer‐scale resolutions
