scholarly journals Indirect Impact of Atmospheric Aerosols in Idealized Simulations of Convective–Radiative Quasi Equilibrium. Part II: Double-Moment Microphysics

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 1897-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Hugh Morrison

Abstract This paper extends the previous cloud-resolving modeling study concerning the impact of cloud microphysics on convective–radiative quasi equilibrium (CRQE) over a surface with fixed characteristics and prescribed solar input, both mimicking the mean conditions on earth. The current study applies sophisticated double-moment warm-rain and ice microphysics schemes, which allow for a significantly more realistic representation of the impact of aerosols on precipitation processes and on the coupling between clouds and radiative transfer. Two contrasting cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) characteristics are assumed, representing pristine and polluted conditions, as well as contrasting representations of the effects of entrainment and mixing on the mean cloud droplet size. In addition, four sets of sensitivity simulations are also performed with changes that provide a reference for the main simulation set. As in the previous study, the CRQE mimics the estimates of globally and annually averaged water and energy fluxes across the earth’s atmosphere. There are some differences from the previous study, however, consistent with the slightly lower water vapor content in the troposphere and significantly reduced lower-tropospheric cloud fraction in current simulations. There is also a significant reduction of the difference between the pristine and polluted cases, from ∼20 to ∼4 W m−2 at the surface from ∼20 to ∼9 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The difference between the homogeneous and extremely inhomogeneous mixing scenarios, ∼20 W m−2 in the previous study, is reduced to a mere 2 (1) W m−2 at the surface (TOA). An unexpected difference between the previous and current simulations is the lower Bowen ratio of the surface heat flux, the partitioning of the total flux into sensible and latent components. It is shown that most of the change comes from the difference in the representation of rain evaporation in the subcloud layer in the single- and double-moment microphysics schemes. The difference affects the mean air temperature and humidity near the surface, and thus the Bowen ratio. The differences between the various simulations are discussed, contrasting the process-level approach with the impact of cloud microphysics on the quasi-equilibrium state with a more appropriate system dynamics approach. The key distinction is that the latter includes the interactions among all the processes in the modeled system.

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 3365-3379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo C. Abade ◽  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Hanna Pawlowska

This paper discusses the effects of cloud turbulence, turbulent entrainment, and entrained cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activation on the evolution of the cloud droplet size spectrum. We simulate an ensemble of idealized turbulent cloud parcels that are subject to entrainment events modeled as a random process. Entrainment events, subsequent turbulent mixing inside the parcel, supersaturation fluctuations, and the resulting stochastic droplet activation and growth by condensation are simulated using a Monte Carlo scheme. Quantities characterizing the turbulence intensity, entrainment rate, CCN concentration, and the mean fraction of environmental air entrained in an event are all specified as independent external parameters. Cloud microphysics is described by applying Lagrangian particles, the so-called superdroplets. These are either unactivated CCN or cloud droplets that grow from activated CCN. The model accounts for the addition of environmental CCN into the cloud by entraining eddies at the cloud edge. Turbulent mixing of the entrained dry air with cloudy air is described using the classical linear relaxation to the mean model. We show that turbulence plays an important role in aiding entrained CCN to activate, and thus broadening the droplet size distribution. These findings are consistent with previous large-eddy simulations (LESs) that consider the impact of variable droplet growth histories on the droplet size spectra in small cumuli. The scheme developed in this work is ready to be used as a stochastic subgrid-scale scheme in LESs of natural clouds.


2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 4493-4499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski

Abstract A simple methodology is proposed to extract impacts of cloud microphysics on macrophysical cloud-field properties in large-eddy simulations of shallow convection. These impacts are typically difficult to assess because of natural variability of the simulated cloud field. The idea is to use two sets of thermodynamic variables driven by different microphysical schemes or by a single scheme with different parameters as applied here. The first set is coupled to the dynamics as in the standard model, and the second set is applied diagnostically—that is, driven by the flow but without the feedback on the flow dynamics. Having the two schemes operating in the same flow pattern allows for extracting the impact with high confidence. For illustration, the method is applied to simulations of precipitating shallow convection applying a simple bulk representation of warm-rain processes. Because of natural variability, the traditional approach provides an uncertain estimate of the impact of cloud droplet concentration on the mean cloud-field rainfall even with an ensemble of simulations. In contrast, the impact is well constrained while applying the new methodology. The method can even detect minuscule changes of the mean cloud cover and liquid water path despite their large temporal fluctuations and different evolutions within the ensemble.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4411-4423 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bangert ◽  
C. Kottmeier ◽  
B. Vogel ◽  
H. Vogel

Abstract. We have extended the coupled mesoscale atmosphere and chemistry model COSMO-ART to account for the transformation of aerosol particles into cloud condensation nuclei and to quantify their interaction with warm cloud microphysics on the regional scale. The new model system aims to fill the gap between cloud resolving models and global scale models. It represents the very complex microscale aerosol and cloud physics as detailed as possible, whereas the continental domain size and efficient codes will allow for both studying weather and regional climate. The model system is applied in a first extended case study for Europe for a cloudy five day period in August 2005. The model results show that the mean cloud droplet number concentration of clouds is correlated with the structure of the terrain, and we present a terrain slope parameter TS to classify this dependency. We propose to use this relationship to parameterize the probability density function, PDF, of subgrid-scale cloud updraft velocity in the activation parameterizations of climate models. The simulations show that the presence of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and clouds are closely related spatially. We find high aerosol and CCN number concentrations in the vicinity of clouds at high altitudes. The nucleation of secondary particles is enhanced above the clouds. This is caused by an efficient formation of gaseous aerosol precursors above the cloud due to more available radiation, transport of gases in clean air above the cloud, and humid conditions. Therefore the treatment of complex photochemistry is crucial in atmospheric models to simulate the distribution of CCN. The mean cloud droplet number concentration and droplet diameter showed a close link to the change in the aerosol. To quantify the net impact of an aerosol change on the precipitation we calculated the precipitation susceptibility β for the whole model domain over a period of two days with an hourly resolution. The distribution function of β is slightly skewed to positive values and has a mean of 0.23. Clouds with a liquid water path LWP of approximately 0.85 kg m−2 are on average most susceptible to aerosol changes in our simulations with an absolute value of β of 1. The average β for LWP between 0.5 kg m−2 and 1 kg m−2 is approximately 0.4.


2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (9) ◽  
pp. 3749-3770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski ◽  
Hugh Morrison

Abstract The suggested impact of pollution on deep convection dynamics, referred to as the convective invigoration, is investigated in simulations applying microphysical piggybacking and a comprehensive double-moment bulk microphysics scheme. The setup follows the case of daytime convective development over land based on observations during the Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere (LBA) experiment in Amazonia. In contrast to previous simulations with single-moment microphysics schemes and in agreement with results from bin microphysics simulations by others, the impact of pollution simulated by the double-moment scheme is large for the upper-tropospheric convective anvils that feature higher cloud fractions in polluted conditions. The increase comes from purely microphysical considerations: namely, the increased cloud droplet concentrations in polluted conditions leading to the increased ice crystal concentrations and, consequently, smaller fall velocities and longer residence times. There is no impact on convective dynamics above the freezing level and thus no convective invigoration. Polluted deep convective clouds precipitate about 10% more than their pristine counterparts. The small enhancement comes from smaller supersaturations below the freezing level and higher buoyancies inside polluted convective updrafts with velocities between 5 and 10 m s−1. The simulated supersaturations are large, up to several percent in both pristine and polluted conditions, and they call into question results from deep convection simulations applying microphysical schemes with saturation adjustment. Sensitivity simulations show that the maximum supersaturations and the upper-tropospheric anvil cloud fractions strongly depend on the details of small cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) that can be activated in strong updrafts above the cloud base.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (18) ◽  
pp. 4664-4682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech W. Grabowski

Abstract This paper discusses a cloud-resolving modeling study concerning the impact of warm-rain microphysics on convective–radiative quasi equilibrium with fixed surface characteristics and prescribed solar input, both mimicking the mean conditions on earth. Two limits of the concentration of cloud droplets, either 100 cm−3 (referred to as “pristine”) or 1000 cm−3 (referred to as “polluted”), are considered. In addition, three formulations of the effective radius of water droplets in diluted cloudy volumes are used, corresponding to the homogeneous, intermediate, and extremely inhomogeneous mixing scenarios. The assumed concentration of cloud droplets, together with the assumed mixing scenario, affects the local value of the effective radius of cloud droplets (the first indirect aerosol effect, also known as the Twomey effect) and the transfer of cloud water into drizzle and rain, which can affect the mean cloudiness and the hydrologic cycle (the second indirect effect). The convective–radiative quasi equilibrium mimics the estimates of globally and annually averaged water and energy fluxes across the earth’s atmosphere to within less than 10 W m−2. As on earth, the model cloudiness is dominated by shallow convection. It is found that the impact of warm microphysics is dominated by the first indirect effect, whereas the second indirect effect has a smaller impact. The assumed droplet concentration and mixing scenario impact the mean “planetary” albedo and, thus, the amount of solar energy reaching the surface, with all other components of atmospheric energy and water budgets virtually the same in all simulations. The weak second indirect effect highlights the difference between the impact of cloud microphysics on a single cloud and the impact on an ensemble of clouds, with only the latter including the feedbacks between clouds and their environment. The formulation of the effective radius in the diluted cloudy volumes turns out to be of critical importance, with the amount of solar energy reaching the surface being the same in the pristine case assuming the homogeneous mixing scenario and in the polluted case with the extremely inhomogeneous mixing. This result emphasizes the essential role of poorly understood microphysical transformations within diluted convective clouds, which strongly impact the magnitude of the first indirect (Twomey) effect. Implications for future research in this area are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 3473
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Tsarpalis ◽  
Petros Katsafados ◽  
Anastasios Papadopoulos ◽  
Nikolaos Mihalopoulos

In this study, the performance and characteristics of the advanced cloud nucleation scheme of Fountoukis and Nenes, embedded in the fully coupled Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry (WRF/Chem) model, are investigated. Furthermore, the impact of dust particles on the distribution of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and the way they modify the pattern of the precipitation are also examined. For the simulation of dust particle concentration, the Georgia Tech Goddard Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport of Air Force Weather Agency (GOCART-AFWA) is used as it includes components for the representation of dust emission and transport. The aerosol activation parameterization scheme of Fountoukis and Nenes has been implemented in the six-class WRF double-moment (WDM6) microphysics scheme, which treats the CCN distribution as a prognostic variable, but does not take into account the concentration of dust aerosols. Additionally, the presence of dust particles that may facilitate the activation of CCN into cloud or rain droplets has also been incorporated in the cumulus scheme of Grell and Freitas. The embedded scheme is assessed through a case study of significant dust advection over the Western Mediterranean, characterized by severe rainfall. Inclusion of CCN based on prognostic dust particles leads to the suppression of precipitation over hazy areas. On the contrary, precipitation is enhanced over areas away from the dust event. The new prognostic CCN distribution improves in general the forecasting skill of the model as bias scores, the root mean square error (RMSE), false alarm ratio (FAR) and frequencies of missed forecasts (FOM) are limited when modelled data are compared against satellite, LIDAR and aircraft observations.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roya Ghahreman ◽  
Wanmin Gong ◽  
Ann-Lise Norman ◽  
Stephen R. Beagley ◽  
Ayodeji Akingunola ◽  
...  

<p>Atmospheric dimethyl sulfide, DMS, is the main biogenic source of sulfate particles in the Arctic atmosphere. Sulfate particles have a net cooling effect, which can partially offset Arctic warming from absorbing aerosols, such as black carbon. As efficient cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), sulfate particles are also able to influence the cloud’s microphysical properties. </p><p>DMS production and emission to the atmosphere increase during the Arctic summer, due to a greater ice-free sea surface area and higher biological activity. In the model simulation of a field campaign conducted over the Canadian high Arctic during the summer of 2014 (NETCARE; Abbatt et al. 2019), the inclusion of DMS in the model, GEM-MACH, resulted in a significant increase, up to 100%, in the modelled atmospheric SO<sub>2</sub> in some regions of the Canadian Arctic. Analysis of the modelled size-segregated aerosol sulfate indicated that DMS has the most significant impact on particles in the size range of 50 – 200 nm in this case. Simulations have shown that localized regions of high seawater DMS can have a significant impact on atmospheric concentrations.</p><p>Further investigation of DMS impact on the Arctic summer cloud microphysics was carried out by using a fully coupled version of GEM-MACH. Overall, the model simulations show that the inclusion of DMS in model leads to an increase in cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNC) and a decrease in droplet mean mass diameters (MMD), and has no significant effects on liquid water content (LWC). The impact of DMS on Canadian weather forecasts will be evaluated using operational forecast tools.</p>


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Heikenfeld ◽  
Bethan White ◽  
Laurent Labbouz ◽  
Philip Stier

Abstract. The impact of aerosols on ice- and mixed-phase processes in deep convective clouds remains highly uncertain and the wide range of interacting microphysical processes are still poorly understood. To understand these processes, we analyse diagnostic output of all individual microphysical process rates for two cloud microphysics schemes in the Weather and Research Forecasting model (WRF). We investigate the response of individual processes to changes in aerosol conditions and the propagation of perturbations through the microphysics all the way to the macrophysical development of the convective clouds. We perform simulations for two different cases of idealised supercells using two double-moment bulk microphysics schemes and a bin microphysics scheme. We use simulations with a comprehensive range of values for cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration as a proxy for aerosol effects on convective clouds. We have developed a new cloud tracking algorithm to analyse the morphology and time evolution of individually tracked convective cells in the simulations and their response to the aerosol perturbations. This analysis confirms an expected decrease in warm rain formation processes due to autoconversion and accretion for polluted conditions. The height at which the freezing occurs increases with increasing CDNC. However, there is no evidence of a significant increase in the total amount of latent heat release from freezing and riming. The cloud mass and the altitude of the cloud centre of gravity show contrasting responses to changes in proxies for aerosol number concentration between the different microphysics schemes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5289-5303 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Grell ◽  
S. R. Freitas ◽  
M. Stuefer ◽  
J. Fast

Abstract. A plume rise algorithm for wildfires was included in WRF-Chem, and applied to look at the impact of intense wildfires during the 2004 Alaska wildfire season on weather simulations using model resolutions of 10 km and 2 km. Biomass burning emissions were estimated using a biomass burning emissions model. In addition, a 1-D, time-dependent cloud model was used online in WRF-Chem to estimate injection heights as well as the vertical distribution of the emission rates. It was shown that with the inclusion of the intense wildfires of the 2004 fire season in the model simulations, the interaction of the aerosols with the atmospheric radiation led to significant modifications of vertical profiles of temperature and moisture in cloud-free areas. On the other hand, when clouds were present, the high concentrations of fine aerosol (PM2.5) and the resulting large numbers of Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) had a strong impact on clouds and cloud microphysics, with decreased precipitation coverage and precipitation amounts during the first 12 h of the integration. During the afternoon, storms were of convective nature and appeared significantly stronger, probably as a result of both the interaction of aerosols with radiation (through an increase in CAPE) as well as the interaction with cloud microphysics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-57
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Dias Martins ◽  
Debora Cantergi ◽  
Jefferson Fagundes Loss

The kihapis a technique used in several oriental martial arts. It is a yell used by practitioners with the ex pectation of enhancing the force of a hit. However, the real effect of using the kihapis unknown. Therefore, this study aims to compare the peak of acceleration of the Dolio-chaguikick in taekwondo performed with and without the use of kihap. Twenty two experienced taekwondo practitioners performed 30 kicks each against a punching bag, alternating in random order with and without kihap, while the acceleration of the punching bag was measured. A t-test was used to compare the difference between the mean acceleration in both conditions. Higher values were found with the use of kihap(7.8 ± 2.8 g) than without the use of kihap(7.1 ± 2.4 g), p< 0.01, r= 0.57. The results indicate that kihapenhances the impact of the kick.


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