A Wave-CISK Model of Squall Lines

Abstract

The wave-CISK model of Raymond incorporating lag effects in the updraft and downdraft is implemented as an initial value problem in physical space. Examples of both midlatitude and tropical squall lines are successfully simulated. Diagnosis of the model shows that condensational heating in the updraft is the primary driving mechanism of a mature squall line, with evaporative cooling and convective momentum transfer playing subsidiary roles. However, an instability involving the displacement of boundary layer air by downdrafts apparently plays an important role in squall line initiation. A weakness of the model is its inability to predict the direction of squall line propagation relative to the low level wind shear. This is traced to the insensitivity of the convective parameterization to midlevel entrainment. However, unlike strict two-dimensional squall lint models, the parameterization allows cross-stream mass transfer to occur in the context of overall slab symmetry. Such transfer is dynamically important for at least some squall lines.