The role of boundary layer aerosol particles for the development of deep convective clouds: A high-resolution 3D model with detailed (bin) microphysics applied to CRYSTAL-FACE

Abstract

This paper reproduces aircraft microphysical measurements using a three-dimensional model with bin resolved microphysics and is then used to analyze in particular the role of boundary layer aerosol particles in the anvil and the ice phase. The simulated case is a convective cloud which develops a large anvil of around 10 km height, which was sampled during the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers — Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE). The model couples the 3D dynamics of a cloud scale model with a detailed mixed phase microphysical code. The microphysical package considers the evolution of the wet aerosol particles, drop and ice crystal spectra on size grids with 39 bins. With this model hereafter called DESCAM 3D, we are able to simulate the cloud with features close to those observed and to provide explanations of the observed phenomena concerning cloud microphysics as well as cloud dynamics. The same CRYSTAL-FACE cloud has already been simulated by other groups using a similar model. They investigated the role of mid-tropospheric aerosol particles versus boundary layer aerosol on the microphysical properties of the anvil. Similar simulations with our DESCAM 3D lead to quite different results. Reducing the number of mid-tropospheric aerosol particles causes only minor changes in the cloud anvil. However, changing the aerosol particle spectrum in the boundary layer from clean to polluted conditions modifies strongly the dynamical evolution of the convective clouds and thus impacts significantly on the microphysical properties of the anvil. Possible reasons for the differences are discussed.