MARINE METEOROLOGY. SOME RESULTS OF A TRADE CUMULUS CLOUD INVESTIGATION

Abstract

Cross sections through 2 trade cumulus clouds are presented which show the temperatures, turbulence, and water vapor content of the clouds and their environment, the cloud slope, and the external wind profile. The clouds were studied over the Caribbean Sea on the same afternoon in June, 1952, and were in widely differing phases of their life cycles. The measurements were made from a slow-flying PBY-6A aircrafts equipped with sensing instruments. Calculations made from the cross sections include total and dynamic entrainment, drafts, slopes, and water content. The Stommel-Malkus steady-state model appeared applicable to some clouds and gave self-consistent results. The data provide evidence on the formation and growth of larger trade cumulus clouds from several smailer ones and on the precedence in time of earlier cloud towers in th same locality.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1953
Accession Number
AD0011717

Entities

People

  • Joanne Starr Malkus

Organizations

  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airplanes
  • Clouds
  • Cumulus Clouds
  • Environment
  • Equations
  • Latent Heat
  • Life Cycles
  • Measurement
  • Meteorology
  • Military Research
  • Moisture Content
  • Photographs
  • Steady State
  • Turbulence
  • Wet Bulb Temperature
  • Wind Shear

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Atmospheric Remote Sensing.
  • Atmospheric Science/Meteorology
  • Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics of Materials.