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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ACPD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ACPD</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1680-7375</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus GmbH</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/acpd-8-14087-2008</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Cloud&apos;s center of gravity – a compact approach to analyze convective cloud development</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Koren</surname>
<given-names>I.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Altaratz</surname>
<given-names>O.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Feingold</surname>
<given-names>G.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Levin</surname>
<given-names>Z.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Reisin</surname>
<given-names>T.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of Environ. Sciences Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Dept. of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Soreq Nuclear Research Center, Yavne, Israel</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>23</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2008</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>8</volume>
<issue>4</issue>
<fpage>14087</fpage>
<lpage>14103</lpage>
<permissions>
<license xlink:type="simple">
<license-p>This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.</license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/14087/2008/acpd-8-14087-2008.html">This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/14087/2008/acpd-8-14087-2008.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/14087/2008/acpd-8-14087-2008.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/8/14087/2008/acpd-8-14087-2008.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>As cloud resolving models become more detailed, with higher resolution
outputs, it is often complicated to isolate the physical processes that
control the cloud attributes. Moreover, due to the high dimensionality and
complexity of the model output, the analysis and interpretation of the
results can be very complicated. Here we suggest a novel approach to
convective cloud analysis that yields more insight into the physical and
temporal evolution of clouds, and is compact and efficient. The different
(3-D) cloud attributes are weighted and projected onto a single point in
space and in time, that has properties of, or similar to, the Center Of
Gravity (COG). The location, magnitude and spread of this variable are
followed in time. The implications of the COG approach are demonstrated for
a study of aerosol effects on a warm convective cloud. We show that in
addition to reducing dramatically the dimensionality of the output, such an
approach often enhances the signal, adds more information, and makes the
physical description of cloud evolution clearer, allowing unambiguous
comparison of clouds evolving in different environmental conditions. This
approach may also be useful for analysis of cloud data retrieved from
surface or space-based cloud radars.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="17"/></counts>
</article-meta>
</front>
<body/>
<back>
<ref-list>
<title>References</title>
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<label>5</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple"> Meyers, M. P., Walko, R. L., Harrington, J. Y., and Cotton, W.R.: New RAMS cloud microphysics parameterization. Part II: The two-moment scheme, Atmos. Res., 45, 3–39, 1997. </mixed-citation>
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<label>9</label><mixed-citation publication-type="other" xlink:type="simple"> Walko R., Cotton, W. R., Feingold G., and Stevens B.: Efficient computation of vapor and heat diffusion between hydrometeors in a numerical model, Atmos. Res., 53, 171–183, 2000. </mixed-citation>
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</ref-list>
</back>
</article>