Horizontal Convective Rolls: Determining the Environmental Conditions Supporting their Existence and Characteristics

Abstract

Data from the Convection and Precipitation/Electrification (CaPE) project, as well as results from numerical simulations, are used to study horizontal convective rolls. The environmental conditions necessary for sustaining rolls and for influencing the aspect ratio, ratio of roll wavelength to convective boundary layer (CBL) depth, and orientation are examined. Observations and numerical model simulations both suggest that a moderate surface sensible heat flux and some vertical wind shear are necessary for roll existence. Unlike some previous studies, however, it is shown that rolls occurred within very low CBL shear conditions (?2 ? 10?3 s?1). In addition, the low-level (i.e., ?200 m) shear seems to be more important than the shear through the depth of the CBL in roll sustenance. The aspect ratio is shown to be proportional to the CBL instability, measured in terms of the Monin?Obukhov length. The roll orientation is similar to the wind direction at 10 m AGL, the CBL wind direction, the inversion-level wind direction, and the CBL shear direction. This is not surprising since there was very little directional shear observed within the CBL during CaPE.