Environmental Conditions Associated with Horizontal Convective Rolls and Cellular Convection
Open Access
Author:
Santellanes, Sean
Graduate Program:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
October 28, 2019
Committee Members:
David Jonathan Stensrud, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Matthew Robert Kumjian, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Ying Pan, Committee Member George Spencer Young, Committee Member Paul Markowski, Program Head/Chair
The general environmental conditions associated with horizontal convective rolls (HCRs) and cellular convection have been known for over 50 years. Yet, our ability to predict whether HCRs, cellular convection, or no organized (null) circulation would occur within the convective boundary layer based upon easily observed variables has been limited. Herein, we create a large data base of 50 cases each of HCR, cellular convection, and null events that includes observations of mean boundary layer wind and wind shear, boundary layer depth, and surface observations of wind, temperature, relative humidity, and surface sensible heat flux. Results from a multi class linear discriminant analysis (LDA) applied to these data indicate that environmental conditions can be used to predict whether HCRs, cellular convection, or no circulation will occur with 87% confidence. The key observational variables are mean boundary layer wind speed, boundary layer depth, convective scaling velocity, and the Obukhov length.
