Predicting the morphology of ice particles in deep convection using the super-droplet method: development and evaluation of SCALE-SDM 0.2.5-2.2.0/2.2.1
Abstract. The super-droplet method (SDM) is a particle-based numerical scheme that enables accurate cloud microphysics simulation with lower computational demand than multi-dimensional bin schemes. Using SDM, a detailed numerical model of mixed-phase clouds is developed in which ice morphologies are explicitly predicted without assuming ice categories or mass-dimension relationships. Ice particles are approximated using porous spheroids. The elementary cloud microphysics processes considered are advection and sedimentation; immersion/condensation and homogeneous freezing; melting; condensation and evaporation including cloud condensation nuclei activation and deactivation; deposition and sublimation; collision-coalescence, -riming, and -aggregation. To evaluate the model's performance, a 2D large-eddy simulation of a cumulonimbus was conducted, and the results well capture characteristics of a real cumulonimbus. The mass-dimension and velocity-dimension relationships the model predicted show a reasonable agreement with existing formulas. Numerical convergence is achieved at a super-particle number concentration as low as 128/cell, which consumes 30 times more computational time than a two-moment bulk model. Although the model still has room for improvement, these results strongly support the efficacy of the particle-based modeling methodology to simulate mixed-phase clouds.