Simulation of an Orographic Precipitation Event during IMPROVE-2. Part II: Sensitivity to the Number of Moments in the Bulk Microphysics Scheme

Abstract

Abstract This is the second in a series of papers examining the behavior of the Milbrandt–Yau multimoment bulk microphysics scheme for the simulation of the 13–14 December 2001 case of orographically enhanced precipitation observed during the second Improvement of Microphysical Parameterization through Observational Verification Experiment (IMPROVE-2) experiment. The sensitivity to the number of predicted moments of the hydrometeor size spectra in the bulk scheme was investigated. The triple-moment control simulations presented in Part I were rerun using double- and single-moment configurations of the multimoment scheme as well the single-moment Kong–Yau scheme. Comparisons of total precipitation and in-cloud hydrometeor mass contents were made between the simulations and observations, with the focus on a 2-h quasi-steady period of heavy stratiform precipitation. The double- and triple-moment simulations were similar; both had realistic precipitation fields, though generally overpredicted in quantity, and had overprediction of snow mass and an underprediction of cloud water aloft. Switching from the triple- to single-moment configuration resulted in a simulation with a precipitation pattern shifted upwind and with a larger positive bias, but with hydrometeor mass fields that corresponded more closely to the observations. Changing the particular single-moment scheme used had a greater impact than changing the number of moments predicted in the same scheme, with the Kong–Yau simulations greatly overpredicting the total precipitation in the lee side of the mountain crest and producing too much snow aloft. Further sensitivity tests indicated that the leeside overprediction in the Kong–Yau runs was most likely due to the combination of the absence of the latent heat effect term in the diffusional growth rate for snow combined with the assumption of instantaneous snow melting in the scheme.