The Life Cycle and Net Radiative Effect of Tropical Anvil Clouds

Abstract We explore the importance of the life cycle of detrained tropical anvil clouds in producing a weak net cloud radiative effect (NCRE) by tropical convective systems. We simulate a horizontally homogeneous elevated ice cloud in a 2‐D framework using the System for Atmospheric Modeling cloud‐resolving model. The initially thick cloud produces a negative NCRE, which is later canceled by a positive NCRE as the cloud thins and rises. Turning off interactive cloud radiation reveals that cloud radiative heating and in‐cloud convection are fundamental in driving net radiative neutrality. In‐cloud convection acts to thin initially thick anvil clouds and loft and maintain thin cirrus. The maintenance of anvil clouds is tied to the recycling of water vapor and cloud ice through sublimation, nucleation, and deposition as air parcels circulate vertically within the cloud layer. Without interactive radiation, the cloud sediments and sublimates away, producing a large negative NCRE. The specification of cloud microphysics substantially influences the cloud's behavior and life cycle , but the tendency of the life cycle to produce compensating cloud radiative effects is robust to substantial changes in the microphysics. Our study shows that small‐scale processes within upper level ice clouds likely have a strong influence on the NCRE associated with tropical convective cloud systems.