Recovery Processes and Factors Limiting Cloud-Top Height following the Arrival of a Dry Intrusion Observed during TOGA COARE

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Abstract
This study investigates the recovery of the tropical atmosphere to moist conditions following the arrival of a dry intrusion observed during the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Program Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). A cloud-resolving model was used to quantify the processes leading to the moistening of the lower and middle troposphere. The model replicates the general recovery of the tropical atmosphere. The moisture field in the lower and middle troposphere recovered in large part from clouds repeatedly penetrating into the dry air mass. The moistening of the dry air mass in the simulation was due to lateral mixing on the edges of cloudy regions rather than mixing at cloud top. While the large-scale advection of moisture played a role in controlling the general evolution of moisture field, the large-scale thermal advection and radiation tend to directly control the evolution of the temperature field. The diurnal variations in these two terms were largely responsi... Abstract This study investigates the recovery of the tropical atmosphere to moist conditions following the arrival of a dry intrusion observed during the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Program Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). A cloud-resolving model was used to quantify the processes leading to the moistening of the lower and middle troposphere. The model replicates the general recovery of the tropical atmosphere. The moisture field in the lower and middle troposphere recovered in large part from clouds repeatedly penetrating into the dry air mass. The moistening of the dry air mass in the simulation was due to lateral mixing on the edges of cloudy regions rather than mixing at cloud top. While the large-scale advection of moisture played a role in controlling the general evolution of moisture field, the large-scale thermal advection and radiation tend to directly control the evolution of the temperature field. The diurnal variations in these two terms were largely responsi...

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