scholarly journals Influences of Entrainment-Mixing Parameterization on Numerical Simulations of Cumulus and Stratocumulus Clouds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoqi Xu ◽  
Chunsong Lu ◽  
Yangang Liu ◽  
Shi Luo ◽  
Xin Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Humidity ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Mature Stage ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation Model ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Entrainment Mixing

Abstract. Different entrainment-mixing processes can occur in clouds; however, a homogeneous mixing mechanism is often implicitly assumed in most commonly used microphysics schemes. Here, we first present a new entrainment-mixing parameterization that uses the grid-mean relative humidity without requiring the relative humidity of the entrained air. Second, the parameterization is implemented in a microphysics scheme in a large eddy simulation model. Third, sensitivity experiments are conducted to compare the new parameterization with the default homogeneous entrainment-mixing parameterization. The results indicate that the new entrainment-mixing parameterization has a larger impact on the number concentration, volume-mean radius, and cloud optical depth in the stratocumulus case than in the cumulus case. This is because inhomogeneous and homogeneous mixing mechanisms dominate in the stratocumulus and cumulus cases, respectively, which is mainly due to the larger turbulence dissipation rate in the cumulus case. Because stratocumulus clouds break up during the dissipation stage to form cumulus clouds, the effects of this new entrainment-mixing parameterization during the stratocumulus dissipation stage are between those during the stratocumulus mature stage and the cumulus case. A large aerosol concentration can enhance the effects of this new entrainment-mixing parameterization by decreasing the cloud droplet size and evaporation time scale. This study sheds new light on the improvement of entrainment-mixing parameterizations in models.

scholarly journals Mid-level clouds are frequent above the southeast Atlantic stratocumulus clouds

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 11025-11043
Author(s):  
Adeyemi A. Adebiyi ◽  
Paquita Zuidema ◽  
Ian Chang ◽  
Sharon P. Burton ◽  
Brian Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Cloud Optical Depth ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Cloud Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Absorbing Aerosols ◽  
Cloud Tops

Abstract. Shortwave-absorbing aerosols seasonally overlay extensive low-level stratocumulus clouds over the southeast Atlantic. While much attention has focused on the interactions between the low-level clouds and the overlying aerosols, few studies have focused on the mid-level clouds that also occur over the region. The presence of mid-level clouds over the region complicates the space-based remote-sensing retrievals of cloud properties and the evaluation of cloud radiation budgets. Here we characterize the mid-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic using lidar- and radar-based satellite cloud retrievals and observations collected in September 2016 during the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) field campaign. We find that mid-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic are relatively common, with the majority of the clouds occurring between altitudes of 5 and 7 km and at temperatures between 0 and −20 ∘C. The mid-level clouds occur at the top of a moist mid-tropospheric smoke-aerosol layer, most frequently between August and October, and closer to the southern African coast than farther offshore. They occur more frequently during the night than during the day. Between July and October, approximately 64 % of the mid-level clouds had a geometric cloud thickness less than 1 km, corresponding to a cloud optical depth of less than 4. A lidar-based depolarization–backscatter relationship for September 2016 indicates that the mid-level clouds are liquid-only clouds with no evidence of the existence of ice. In addition, a polarimeter-derived cloud droplet size distribution indicates that approximately 85 % of the September 2016 mid-level clouds had an effective radius less than 7 µm, which could further discourage the ability of the clouds to glaciate. These clouds are mostly associated with synoptically modulated mid-tropospheric moisture outflow that can be linked to the detrainment from the continental-based clouds. Overall, the supercooled mid-level clouds reduce the radiative cooling rates of the underlying low-altitude cloud tops by approximately 10 K d−1, thus influencing the regional cloud radiative budget.

scholarly journals Assessing regional scale predictions of aerosols, marine stratocumulus, and their interactions during VOCALS-REx using WRF-Chem

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 11951-11975 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Yang ◽  
J. D. Fast ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
R. C. Easter ◽  
H. Morrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Optical Properties ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Energy Fluxes ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Southeast Pacific ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds

Abstract. This study assesses the ability of the recent chemistry version (v3.3) of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF-Chem) model to simulate boundary layer structure, aerosols, stratocumulus clouds, and energy fluxes over the Southeast Pacific Ocean. Measurements from the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) and satellite retrievals (i.e., products from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), and GOES-10) are used for this assessment. The Morrison double-moment microphysics scheme is newly coupled with interactive aerosols in the model. The 31-day (15 October–16 November 2008) WRF-Chem simulation with aerosol-cloud interactions (AERO hereafter) is also compared to a simulation (MET hereafter) with fixed cloud droplet number concentrations in the microphysics scheme and simplified cloud and aerosol treatments in the radiation scheme. The well-simulated aerosol quantities (aerosol number, mass composition and optical properties), and the inclusion of full aerosol-cloud couplings lead to significant improvements in many features of the simulated stratocumulus clouds: cloud optical properties and microphysical properties such as cloud top effective radius, cloud water path, and cloud optical thickness. In addition to accounting for the aerosol direct and semi-direct effects, these improvements feed back to the simulation of boundary-layer characteristics and energy budgets. Particularly, inclusion of interactive aerosols in AERO strengthens the temperature and humidity gradients within the capping inversion layer and lowers the marine boundary layer (MBL) depth by 130 m from that of the MET simulation. These differences are associated with weaker entrainment and stronger mean subsidence at the top of the MBL in AERO. Mean top-of-atmosphere outgoing shortwave fluxes, surface latent heat, and surface downwelling longwave fluxes are in better agreement with observations in AERO, compared to the MET simulation. Nevertheless, biases in some of the simulated meteorological quantities (e.g., MBL temperature and humidity) and aerosol quantities (e.g., underestimations of accumulation mode aerosol number) might affect simulated stratocumulus and energy fluxes over the Southeastern Pacific, and require further investigation. The well-simulated timing and outflow patterns of polluted and clean episodes demonstrate the model's ability to capture daily/synoptic scale variations of aerosol and cloud properties, and suggest that the model is suitable for studying atmospheric processes associated with pollution outflow over the ocean. The overall performance of the regional model in simulating mesoscale clouds and boundary layer properties is encouraging and suggests that reproducing gradients of aerosol and cloud droplet concentrations and coupling cloud-aerosol-radiation processes are important when simulating marine stratocumulus over the Southeast Pacific.

scholarly journals The Effect of Ice Nuclei Efficiency on Arctic Mixed-Phase Clouds from Large-Eddy Simulations

2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 3901-3913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shizuo Fu ◽  
Huiwen Xue
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Formation ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation Model ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Ice Nuclei ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
Bin Microphysics ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

Abstract The effects of ice nuclei (IN) efficiency on the persistent ice formation in Arctic mixed-phase clouds (AMCs) are investigated using a large-eddy simulation model, coupled to a bin microphysics scheme with a prognostic IN formulation. In the three cases where the IN efficiency is high, ice formation and IN depletion are fast. When the IN concentration is 1 and 10 g−1, IN are completely depleted and the cloud becomes purely liquid phase before the end of the 24-h simulation. When the IN concentration is 100 g−1, the IN supply is sufficient but the liquid water is completely consumed so that the cloud dissipates quickly. In the three cases when the IN efficiency is low, ice formation is negligible in the first several hours but becomes significant as the temperature is decreased through longwave cooling. Before the end of the simulation, the cloud is in mixed phase when the IN concentration is 1 and 10 g−1 but dissipates when the IN concentration is 100 g−1. In the case where two types of IN are considered, ice formation persists throughout the simulation. Analysis shows that as the more efficient IN are continuously removed through ice formation, the less efficient IN gradually nucleate more ice crystals because the longwave cooling decreases the cloud temperature. This mechanism is further illustrated with a simple model. These results indicate that a spectrum of IN efficiency is necessary to maintain the persistent ice formation in AMCs.

scholarly journals Precipitation enhancement in stratocumulus clouds through airbourne seeding: sensitivity analysis by UCLALES–SALSA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Tonttila ◽  
Ali Afzalifar ◽  
Harri Kokkola ◽  
Tomi Raatikainen ◽  
Hannele Korhonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fold Increase ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Seeding Rate ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation Model ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

Abstract. Artificial enhancement of precipitation via hygroscopic cloud seeding is investigated with a numerical large-eddy simulation model coupled with a spectral aerosol-cloud microphysics module. We focus our investigation on marine stratocumulus clouds and evaluate our model results by comparing them with recently published results from field observations. Creating multiple realizations of a single cloud event with the model provides a robust method to detect and attribute the seeding effects, which reinforces the analysis based on experimental data. Owing to the detailed representation of aerosol-cloud interactions, our model successfully reproduces the microphysical signatures attributed to the seeding, that were also seen in the observations. Moreover, the model simulations show up to a 2–3 fold increase in the precipitation flux due to the seeding, depending on the seeding rate and injection strategy. However, our simulations suggest that a relatively high seeding particle emission rate is needed for a substantial increase in the precipitation yield, as compared with the estimated seeding concentrations from the field campaign. In practical applications, the seeding aerosol is often produced by flare burning. It is speculated, that the required amount of large seeding particles suggested by our results could pose a technical challenge to the flare-based approach.

scholarly journals University of Warsaw Lagrangian Cloud Model (UWLCM) 1.0: a modern Large-Eddy Simulation tool for warm cloud modeling with Lagrangian microphysics

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Dziekan ◽  
Maciej Waruszewski ◽  
Hanna Pawlowska
Keyword(s):  
Large Eddy Simulation ◽  
Cloud Model ◽  
Size Spectrum ◽  
Residual Pressure ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Dynamical Core ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation Model ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Computational Performance ◽  
Large Eddy

Abstract. A new anelastic large-eddy simulation model with an Eulerian dynamical core and a Lagrangian particle-based microphysics is presented. The dynamical core uses the MPDATA advection scheme and the generalized conjugate residual pressure solver, while the microphysics scheme is based on the Super-Droplet Method. Algorithms for coupling of the Lagrangian microphysics with the Eulerian dynamics are presented, including spatial and temporal discretizations and a condensation sub-stepping algorithm. The model is free of numerical diffusion in the droplet size spectrum. Activation of droplets is modeled explicitly, making the model less sensitive to local supersaturation maxima than models in which activation is parametrised. Simulations of a drizzling marine stratocumulus give results in agreement with other LES models. Relatively low number of computational particles is sufficient to obtain the correct averaged properties of a cloud. High computational performance is achieved thanks to the use of GPU accelerators.

scholarly journals Precipitation enhancement in stratocumulus clouds through airborne seeding: sensitivity analysis by UCLALES-SALSA

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 1035-1048
Author(s):  
Juha Tonttila ◽  
Ali Afzalifar ◽  
Harri Kokkola ◽  
Tomi Raatikainen ◽  
Hannele Korhonen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fold Increase ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Seeding Rate ◽  
Marine Stratocumulus ◽  
Large Eddy Simulation Model ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

Abstract. Artificial enhancement of precipitation via hygroscopic cloud seeding is investigated with a numerical large-eddy simulation model coupled with a spectral aerosol–cloud microphysics module. We focus our investigation on marine stratocumulus clouds and evaluate our model results by comparing them with recently published results from field observations. Creating multiple realizations of a single cloud event with the model provides a robust method to detect and attribute the seeding effects, which reinforces the analysis based on experimental data. Owing to the detailed representation of aerosol–cloud interactions, our model successfully reproduces the microphysical signatures attributed to the seeding, which were also seen in the observations. Moreover, the model simulations show up to a 2–3-fold increase in the precipitation flux due to the seeding, depending on the seeding rate and injection strategy. However, our simulations suggest that a relatively high seeding particle emission rate is needed for a substantial increase in the precipitation yield, compared with the estimated seeding concentrations from the field campaign. In practical applications, the seeding aerosol is often produced by flare burning. It is speculated that the required number of large seeding particles suggested by our results could pose a technical challenge to the flare-based approach.

scholarly journals Modeling microphysical effects of entrainment in clouds observed during EUCAARI-IMPACT field campaign

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8489-8503 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Jarecka ◽  
H. Pawlowska ◽  
W. W. Grabowski ◽  
A. A. Wyszogrodzki
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Turbulent Mixing ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Radius ◽  
Subgrid Scale ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
Field Campaign ◽  
Les Model

Abstract. This paper discusses aircraft observations and large-eddy simulation (LES) modeling of 15 May 2008, North Sea boundary-layer clouds from the EUCAARI-IMPACT field campaign. These clouds are advected from the northeast by the prevailing lower-tropospheric winds and featured stratocumulus-over-cumulus cloud formations. An almost-solid stratocumulus deck in the upper part of the relatively deep, weakly decoupled marine boundary layer overlays a field of small cumuli. The two cloud formations have distinct microphysical characteristics that are in general agreement with numerous past observations of strongly diluted shallow cumuli on one hand and solid marine stratocumulus on the other. Based on the available observations, a LES model setup is developed and applied in simulations using a novel LES model. The model features a double-moment warm-rain bulk microphysics scheme combined with a sophisticated subgrid-scale scheme allowing local prediction of the homogeneity of the subgrid-scale turbulent mixing. The homogeneity depends on the characteristic time scales for the droplet evaporation and for the turbulent homogenization. In the model, these scales are derived locally based on the subgrid-scale turbulent kinetic energy, spatial scale of cloudy filaments, mean cloud droplet radius, and humidity of the cloud-free air entrained into a cloud, all predicted by the LES model. The model reproduces contrasting macrophysical and microphysical characteristics of the cumulus and stratocumulus cloud layers. Simulated subgrid-scale turbulent mixing within the cumulus layer and near the stratocumulus top is on average quite inhomogeneous, but varies significantly depending on the local conditions.

scholarly journals The ICON Single-Column Mode

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 906
Author(s):  
Ivan Bašták Ďurán ◽  
Martin Köhler ◽  
Astrid Eichhorn-Müller ◽  
Vera Maurer ◽  
Juerg Schmidli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Storage ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Shallow Convection ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Additional Tool ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Single Column ◽  
Stratocumulus Clouds

The single-column mode (SCM) of the ICON (ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic) modeling framework is presented. The primary purpose of the ICON SCM is to use it as a tool for research, model evaluation and development. Thanks to the simplified geometry of the ICON SCM, various aspects of the ICON model, in particular the model physics, can be studied in a well-controlled environment. Additionally, the ICON SCM has a reduced computational cost and a low data storage demand. The ICON SCM can be utilized for idealized cases—several well-established cases are already included—or for semi-realistic cases based on analyses or model forecasts. As the case setup is defined by a single NetCDF file, new cases can be prepared easily by the modification of this file. We demonstrate the usage of the ICON SCM for different idealized cases such as shallow convection, stratocumulus clouds, and radiative transfer. Additionally, the ICON SCM is tested for a semi-realistic case together with an equivalent three-dimensional setup and the large eddy simulation mode of ICON. Such consistent comparisons across the hierarchy of ICON configurations are very helpful for model development. The ICON SCM will be implemented into the operational ICON model and will serve as an additional tool for advancing the development of the ICON model.

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