Abstract

Abstract. Simulations of tropical convection from an operational numerical weather prediction model are evaluated with the focus on the model's ability to simulate the observed high ice water contents associated with the outflow of deep convection and to investigate the modelled processes that control the phase composition of tropical convective clouds. The 1 km horizontal grid length model that uses a single-moment microphysics scheme simulates the intensification and decay of convective strength across the mesoscale convective system. However, deep convection is produced too early, the OLR (outgoing longwave radiation) is underestimated and the areas with reflectivities > 30 dBZ are overestimated due to too much rain above the freezing level, stronger updraughts and larger particle sizes in the model. The inclusion of a heterogeneous rain-freezing parameterisation and the use of different ice size distributions show better agreement with the observed reflectivity distributions; however, this simulation still produces a broader profile with many high-reflectivity outliers demonstrating the greater occurrence of convective cells in the simulations. Examining the phase composition shows that the amount of liquid and ice in the modelled convective updraughts is controlled by the following: the size of the ice particles, with larger particles growing more efficiently through riming and producing larger IWC (ice water content); the efficiency of the warm rain process, with greater cloud water contents being available to support larger ice growth rates; and exclusion or limitation of graupel growth, with more mass contained in slower falling snow particles resulting in an increase of in-cloud residence times and more efficient removal of LWC (liquid water content). In this simulated case using a 1 km grid length model, horizontal mass divergence in the mixed-phase regions of convective updraughts is most sensitive to the turbulence formulation. Greater mixing of environmental air into cloudy updraughts in the region of −30 to 0 °C produces more mass divergence indicative of greater entrainment, which generates a larger stratiform rain area. Above these levels in the purely ice region of the simulated updraughts, the convective updraught buoyancy is controlled by the ice particle sizes, demonstrating the importance of the microphysical processes on the convective dynamics in this simulated case study using a single-moment microphysics scheme. The single-moment microphysics scheme in the model is unable to simulate the observed reduction of mean mass-weighted ice diameter as the ice water content increases. The inability of the model to represent the observed variability of the ice size distribution would be improved with the use of a double-moment microphysics scheme.

Highlights

  • Improving the simulation of tropical convective clouds in convection-permitting simulations is an important yet challenging endeavour

  • In this work cloud properties are evaluated from an operational model with the focus on the model’s ability to simulate high ice water contents generated from the outflow of deep convection and to understand what modelled processes control the phase composition of the simulated tropical convective clouds

  • A set of 1 km horizontal grid length simulations has been analysed to evaluate the ability of the Unified Model (UM) to simulate tropical convective cloud systems and to investigate the impacts of different dynamical, turbulent and microphysical representations on the cloud properties, including the phase composition

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Summary

Introduction

Improving the simulation of tropical convective clouds in convection-permitting simulations is an important yet challenging endeavour. An international field campaign called the High Ice Water Content (HIWC) study was conducted out of Darwin in the beginning of 2014 and provided a high-quality database of ice cloud measurements associated with deep tropical convective systems These observations are a valuable resource for evaluating convection-permitting model simulations and cloud microphysical parameterisations. Varble et al (2014a) compared cloud-resolving and limited-area model simulations with the extensive database of observations from the Tropical Warm Pool – International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) They found excessive vertical velocities even at 100 m horizontal grid spacings and suggested that the overly intense updraughts are a product of interactions between the convective dynamics and microphysics.

Description of the model and observations
Comparison of the simulations with observations
Radar reflectivity characteristics
Statistical radar coverage analysis
Contoured frequency by altitude diagrams
Maximum reflectivity profiles and vertical velocities
Phase composition and comparison with in situ observations
Findings
Conclusions
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