ANALYSIS OF TEMPERATURE AND WIND SPEED IN CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS BASED ON RADIOSONDE DATA WITH HIGH SPATIOTEMPORAL RESOLUTION

Abstract

Turbulence in the boundary layer of the atmosphere has a significant impact on thermodynamic processes affecting the formation of weather and climate, the efficiency of wind energy, and the safety of air navigation. Random inhomogeneities caused by turbulent motion in the atmosphere interfere with astronomical observations and tracking of aerospace objects, therefore the study of the turbulence formation and development processes remains an important direction in atmospheric research. This study aims to identify the features of vertical profiles of air temperature and wind speed in the boundary layer of the atmosphere in clear weather and in cumulonimbus clouds. Averaged vertical profiles of derivatives of potential air temperature and wind speed were calculated according to sounding data with high spatiotemporal resolution. The features of changes in the height of vertical gradients of potential air temperature and wind speed were identified, and the relationship between these values and atmospheric turbulence was analyzed. The study has found that in clear weather in the boundary layer of the atmosphere there occurs a dry adiabatic vertical displacement of air masses, while in cumulonimbus clouds adiabaticity is disturbed. In clear weather, in the surface layer there is an outflow of heat in the daytime and an influx of heat in the nighttime. In cumulonimbus clouds, regardless of the time of day, there are many alternating thin layers in which an influx or outflow of heat take place. It is also noted that vertical turbulent mixing of heat occurs in and under cumulonimbus clouds.