scholarly journals Aerosol effects on the development of a supercell storm in a double-moment bulk-cloud microphysics scheme

Author(s):  
Kyo-Sun Sunny Lim ◽  
Song-You Hong ◽  
Seong Soo Yum ◽  
Jimy Dudhia ◽  
Joseph B. Klemp
2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 833-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Seiki ◽  
Teruyuki Nakajima

Abstract Using a nonhydrostatic model with a double-moment bulk cloud microphysics scheme, the authors introduce an aerosol effect on a convective cloud system by accelerating the condensation and evaporation processes (the aerosol condensational effect). To evaluate this effect, the authors use an explicit condensation scheme rather than the saturation adjustment method and propose a method to isolate the aerosol condensational effect. This study shows that the aerosol condensational effect not only accelerates growth rates but also increases cloud water, even though the degree of the acceleration of evaporation exceeds that of condensation. In the early developing stage of the convective system, increased cloud water is, in turn, linked to ice-phase processes and modifies the ice water path of anvil clouds and the ice cloud fraction. In the mature stage, although the aerosol condensational effect has a secondary role in dynamical feedbacks when combined with other aerosol effects, the degree of modulation of the cloud microphysical parameters by the aerosol condensational effect continues to be nonnegligible. These findings indicate that feedback mechanisms, such as latent heat release and the interaction of various aerosol effects, are important in convective cloud systems that involve ice-phase processes.


2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoshi Qiao ◽  
Shizhang Wang ◽  
Jinzhong Min

Abstract The concept of stochastic parameterization provides an opportunity to represent spatiotemporal errors caused by microphysics schemes that play important roles in supercell simulations. In this study, two stochastic methods, the stochastically perturbed temperature tendency from microphysics (SPTTM) method and the stochastically perturbed intercept parameters of microphysics (SPIPM) method, are implemented within the Lin scheme, which is based on the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) model, and are tested using an idealized supercell case. The SPTTM and SPIPM methods perturb the temperature tendency and the intercept parameters (IPs), respectively. Both methods use recursive filters to generate horizontally smooth perturbations and adopt the barotropic structure for the perturbation r, which is multiplied by tendencies or parameters from this parameterization. A double-moment microphysics scheme is used for the truth run. Compared to the multiparameter method, which uses randomly perturbed prescribed parameters, stochastic methods often produce larger ensemble spreads and better forecast the intensity of updraft helicity (UH). The SPTTM method better predicts the intensity by intensifying the midlevel heating with its positive perturbation r, whereas it performs worse in the presence of negative perturbation. In contrast, the SPIPM method can increase the intensity of UH by either positive or negative perturbation, which increases the likelihood for members to predict strong UH.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanchen Wu ◽  
Wei Huang ◽  
Baode Chen

<p>Considering aerosol effects via microphysics parameterization is an imperative work in high-resolution numerical weather prediction. This paper uses two bulk microphysics parameterizations, Aerosol-Aware Thompson and CLR schemes, with the Weather and Research Forecast model to study the impacts of aerosols and microphysics scheme on an idealized supercell storm. Our results show that the implementation of aerosols can successfully modify the cloud droplet size and influence the subsequent warm-rain, mixed-phase, and accumulated precipitation. It implies that aerosols can make numerous differences to cloud microphysics properties and processes but the uncertainty in the magnitude of aerosol effects is huge because the two schemes are different from each other since the warm-rain process including CCN activation and rainwater formation. On the other hand, it is also found that the two schemes make tremendous differences in the rainfall pattern and storm dynamics due to the presence of graupel below the freezing level. The Thompson scheme has hail-like graupel which can fall below the freezing level to chill the air temperature effectively, intensify the downdraft, and enhance the uplifting on the front of cold pools. The mean graupel size represented by the two schemes plays a much more important role than the fall-speed formula for the dynamical feedbacks. Our results suggest that particle size is the core of a myriad of microphysics processes and highly associated with key cloud and dynamical signatures.</p>


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 2405-2419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Seiki ◽  
Chihiro Kodama ◽  
Akira T. Noda ◽  
Masaki Satoh

Abstract This study examines the impact of an alteration of a cloud microphysics scheme on the representation of longwave cloud radiative forcing (LWCRF) and its impact on the atmosphere in global cloud-system-resolving simulations. A new double-moment bulk cloud microphysics scheme is used, and the simulated results are compared with those of a previous study. It is demonstrated that improvements within the new cloud microphysics scheme have the potential to substantially improve climate simulations. The new cloud microphysics scheme represents a realistic spatial distribution of the cloud fraction and LWCRF, particularly near the tropopause. The improvement in the cirrus cloud-top height by the new cloud microphysics scheme substantially reduces the warm bias in atmospheric temperature from the previous simulation via LWCRF by the cirrus clouds. The conversion rate of cloud ice to snow and gravitational sedimentation of cloud ice are the most important parameters for determining the strength of the radiative heating near the tropopause and its impact on atmospheric temperature.


Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunho Lee ◽  
Jong-Jin Baik

Comparisons between bin and bulk cloud microphysics schemes are conducted by simulating a heavy precipitation case using a bin microphysics scheme and four double-moment bulk microphysics schemes in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. For this, we implemented an updated bin microphysics scheme in the WRF model. All of the microphysics schemes underestimate observed strong precipitation, but the bin microphysics scheme yields the result that is closest to observations. The differences among the schemes are more pronounced in terms of hydrometeor number concentration than in terms of hydrometeor mixing ratio. In this case, the bin scheme exhibits remarkably more latent heat release by deposition and riming than the bulk schemes. This causes stronger updrafts and more upward transport of water vapor, which leads to more deposition, and again, increases the latent heat release. An additional simulation using the bin scheme but excluding the riming of cloud droplets on ice crystals, which is not or poorly treated in the examined bulk schemes, shows that surface precipitation is slightly weakened and moved farther downwind compared to that of the control simulation. This implies that the more appropriate representation of microphysical processes in the bin microphysics scheme contributes to the more accurate prediction of precipitation in this case.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Dawson II ◽  
Louis J. Wicker ◽  
Edward R. Mansell ◽  
Youngsun Jung ◽  
Ming Xue

The impact of increasing the number of predicted moments in a multimoment bulk microphysics scheme is investigated using ensemble Kalman filter analyses and forecasts of the May 8, 2003 Oklahoma City tornadic supercell storm and the analyses are validated using dual-polarization radar observations. The triple-moment version of the microphysics scheme exhibits the best performance, relative to the single- and double-moment versions, in reproducing the low-ZDRhail core and high-ZDRarc, as well as an improved probabilistic track forecast of the mesocyclone. A comparison of the impact of the improved microphysical scheme on probabilistic forecasts of the mesocyclone track with the observed tornado track is also discussed.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 2115-2131 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Lohmann

Abstract. Aerosols affect the climate system by changing cloud characteristics in many ways. They act as cloud condensation and ice nuclei and may have an influence on the hydrological cycle. Here we investigate aerosol effects on convective clouds by extending the double-moment cloud microphysics scheme developed for stratiform clouds, which is coupled to the HAM double-moment aerosol scheme, to convective clouds in the ECHAM5 general circulation model. This enables us to investigate whether more, and smaller cloud droplets suppress the warm rain formation in the lower parts of convective clouds and thus release more latent heat upon freezing, which would then result in more vigorous convection and more precipitation. In ECHAM5, including aerosol effects in large-scale and convective clouds (simulation ECHAM5-conv) reduces the sensitivity of the liquid water path increase with increasing aerosol optical depth in better agreement with observations and large-eddy simulation studies. In simulation ECHAM5-conv with increases in greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions since pre-industrial times, the geographical distribution of the changes in precipitation better matches the observed increase in precipitation than neglecting microphysics in convective clouds. In this simulation the convective precipitation increases the most suggesting that the convection has indeed become more vigorous.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 10997-11024
Author(s):  
Hamish Gordon ◽  
Paul R. Field ◽  
Steven J. Abel ◽  
Paul Barrett ◽  
Keith Bower ◽  
...  

Abstract. Representing the number and mass of cloud and aerosol particles independently in a climate, weather prediction or air quality model is important in order to simulate aerosol direct and indirect effects on radiation balance. Here we introduce the first configuration of the UK Met Office Unified Model in which both cloud and aerosol particles have “double-moment” representations with prognostic number and mass. The GLObal Model of Aerosol Processes (GLOMAP) aerosol microphysics scheme, already used in the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 3 (HadGEM3) climate configuration, is coupled to the Cloud AeroSol Interacting Microphysics (CASIM) cloud microphysics scheme. We demonstrate the performance of the new configuration in high-resolution simulations of a case study defined from the CLARIFY aircraft campaign in 2017 near Ascension Island in the tropical southern Atlantic. We improve the physical basis of the activation scheme by representing the effect of existing cloud droplets on the activation of new aerosol, and we also discuss the effect of unresolved vertical velocities. We show that neglect of these two competing effects in previous studies led to compensating errors but realistic droplet concentrations. While these changes lead only to a modest improvement in model performance, they reinforce our confidence in the ability of the model microphysics code to simulate the aerosol–cloud microphysical interactions it was designed to represent. Capturing these interactions accurately is critical to simulating aerosol effects on climate.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 10429-10462
Author(s):  
S. S. Lee ◽  
J. E. Penner

Abstract. Cirrus clouds cover approximately 20–25% of the globe and thus play an important role in the Earth's radiation budget. This indicates that aerosol effects on cirrus clouds can have a substantial impact on the variation of global radiative forcing if the ice-water path (IWP) changes. This study examines the aerosol indirect effect (AIE) through changes in the IWP for a cirrus cloud case. We use a cloud-system resolving model (CSRM) coupled with a double-moment representation of cloud microphysics. Intensified interactions among the cloud ice number concentration (CINC), deposition and dynamics play a critical role in the IWP increases due to aerosol increases. Increased aerosols lead to increased CINC, providing increased surface area for water vapor deposition. The increased deposition causes depositional heating which produces stronger updrafts, and leads to the increased IWP. The conversion of ice crystals to aggregates through autoconversion and accretion plays a negligible role in the IWP responses to aerosols, as the sedimentation of aggregates. The sedimentation of ice crystals plays a more important role in the IWP response to aerosol increases than the sedimentation of aggregates, but, not more important than the interactions among the CINC, deposition and dynamics.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalton Behringer ◽  
Sen Chiao

This study investigated precipitation distribution patterns in association with atmospheric rivers (ARs). The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was employed to simulate two strong atmospheric river events. The precipitation forecasts were highly sensitive to cloud microphysics parameterization schemes. Thus, radar observed and simulated Z H and Z D R were evaluated to provide information about the drop-size distribution (DSD). Four microphysics schemes (WSM-5, WSM-6, Thompson, and WDM-6) with nested simulations (3 km, 1 km, and 1/3 km) were conducted. One of the events mostly contained bright-band (BB) rainfall and lasted less than 24 h, while the other contained both BB and non-bright-band (NBB) rainfall, and lasted about 27 h. For each event, there was no clear improvement in the 1/3 km model, over the 1 km model. Overall, the WDM-6 microphysics scheme best represented the rainfall and the DSD. It appears that this scheme performed well, due to its relative simplicity in ice and mixed-phase microphysics, while providing double-moment predictions of warm rain microphysics (i.e., cloud and rain mixing ratio and number concentration). The other schemes tested either provided single-moment predictions of all classes or double-moment predictions of ice and rain (Thompson). Considering the shallow nature of precipitation in atmospheric rivers and the high-frequency of the orographic effect enhancing the warm rain process, these assumptions appear to be applicable over the southern San Francisco Bay Area.


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