Thunderstorm anvil mammatus are some of the most visually distinctive clouds in our atmosphere. Despite their often dramatic appearance, they generally are considered to be a benign form of convection. They are infrequently studied, except occasionally as an aside owing to some serendipitous observations. Thus, very little is actually known about their formative dynamics or the reasons for their physical characteristics. These still need to be explained if we are to understand these enigmatic cloud phenomena. Mammatus clouds are perhaps the last cloud form whose formation is yet to be understood.
In this work mammatus-like clouds will be simulated numerically using observed and idealized soundings to initialize a high resolution (25-50 m) three-dimensional LES model that employs both two-moment (predicts mixing ratio and number concentration) and bin parameterizations of microphysical processes. These simulations will be representative of environments of thunderstorm cirrus and sub-cloud layers in order to attempt to better understand what dynamical and physical processes may be responsible for mammatus formation, organization, shape, and possibly microphysical structure..
In addition, this research into mammatus will improve our understanding of convection in general, including cloud detrainment and other instabilities, and the basic fluid dynamic and thermodynamic processes involved in convection in our atmosphere. Moreover, the results regarding the dynamics of cirrus anvils may also have an impact on related topics in thunderstorm cirrus research, such as the long-term maintenance of these cloud layers long after the parent storm has decayed.
A female research scientist is involved in this work, which will facilitate the retention and advancement of women in science, and promote diversity in the workforce. In addition a student will be supported to conduct research toward an MS degree, with student selection based on merit and talent commensurate with the needs for this research. If at all possible the chosen student will be one from an underrepresented group in the pool of applicants at OU School of Meteorology. Finally, talks will be offered locally, for grade groups ranging from K-12, which explain the science of cloud types and cloud research. A webpage acknowledging the NSF will be developed and designed to communicate new knowledge about mammatus clouds to a wide audience.
