Accretion Of Cloud Water Research Articles

Microphysical processes under different hourly rainfall intensities in super typhoon Rammasun

High-resolution numerical simulation data of super typhoon Rammasun simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model was used to study the cloud microphysical processes under different hourly rainfall intensities. The grid points in the gale circle were categorized into four types (0–5, 5–20, 20–50, and 50- mm) based on hourly rainfall. The precipitation and microphysical characteristics under different types were investigated by diagnostic and statistical methods. The results showed that on the eve of the first landfall, extremely hourly heavy precipitation (50- mm type) was significantly enhanced compared to other types. The vertical movement was significantly reduced to the middle and lower troposphere which was very conducive to the relative movement and interaction of hydrometeors with the enhancement of the collision processes. The rainfall in the 5–20 and 20–50 mm types both mostly accounted for about 40% of the total rainfall in the gale circle, while that of the 0–5 and 50- mm types were generally smaller than the former two. As the rainfall intensity increased, the absolute conversion rates of all major cloud microphysical processes had shown increasing trends, especially the non-uniformity of Cnd (the condensation of water vapor to cloud water), Pracw (the accretion of cloud water by rain) and Dgacw (the accretion of cloud water by graupel). The relative contribution of Pgmlt (the melting of graupel) increased slightly and then decreased significantly from the 20–50 mm type (36.28%) to the 50- mm type (25.06%), while that of Pracw had significantly increased especially from the 20–50 mm type (41.77%) to the 50- mm type (50.97%), which was related to the upward motion characteristics.

Diagnostic Relations for the Intercept Parameter of Exponential Raindrop Size Distribution According to Rain Types Derived from Disdrometer Data and Their Impacts on Precipitation Prediction

The raindrop size distribution observed from ground-based or airborne disdrometers has been widely used to understand the characteristics of clouds and precipitation. However, its variability needs to be studied further and properly considered for improving precipitation prediction. In this study, using disdrometer data, the diagnostic relations for the intercept parameter of the exponential raindrop size distribution N0 are derived for different rain types and the impacts of the diagnostic relations on precipitation prediction are examined. The disdrometer data observed at four sites in South Korea show spatiotemporal variations of N0. Three different derivation methods proposed by previous studies are used to derive the diagnostic relations, and the diagnostic relation that best reproduces the observed N0 is selected. The diagnostic relation is implemented into the WRF single-moment 6-class microphysics (WSM6) scheme, and its impacts are investigated through the simulations of summertime precipitation events in South Korea. Compared to the simulation using the original WSM6 scheme (WSM6-O) where a constant N0 is used, the simulation where N0 is diagnosed by the diagnostic relation using the rainwater content at the lowest level (WSM6-L) yields better precipitation prediction. The WSM6-L simulation represents the variability of N0. Also, the WSM6-L simulation predicts N0 that is on average smaller than the prescribed value in the WSM6-O simulation, agreeing with the observation to some extent. The smaller N0 in the WSM6-L simulation decreases the rainwater production by the accretion of cloud water and the melting of ice hydrometeors, decreasing the rainwater mixing ratio.

Simulations of an extreme rainstorm event (1056.7 mm/day) along the South China coast: Cloud microphysical processes and maintenance mechanism of rainstorm

The coastal area of Guangdong Province underwent an extreme rainstorm in Aug. 2018. In this paper, using the convection-permitting WRF simulation results, a comparative analysis was given to the cloud microphysical conversion processes simulated under four cloud microphysics schemes, i.e. WSM6, WDM6, WSM7 and WDM7, as well as the accompanying latent heat budget. The maintenance mechanism of the rainstorm is discussed. In all four schemes, water vapor condensing into cloud water and accretion of cloud water by rain water were the top two conversion processes. In WSM6/WDM6 scheme, the third largest conversion process was accretion of rain water by graupel; in WSM7/WDM7, however, the third largest was cloud water evaporating to water vapor. The most important source of rain water was accretion of cloud water by rain, but the differences in hydrometeors conversion between rain water and graupel, snow and hail were the leading cause of differences in simulated rainfall under different schemes.The top three releasing latent heat processes were water vapor condensing into cloud water, water vapor deposited to cloud ice, and snow sublimation. The top two absorbing latent heat processes were cloud water and rain water evaporating to water vapor. In WSM6/WDM6/WSM7 schemes, the third major process of absorption of latent heat was snow sublimating to water vapor, in WDM7, however, it was hail melting into rain water. Compared with ice-phase processes, liquid-phase processes provide more latent heat. Differences in the release and absorption of latent heat were found in the mid-high troposphere. Hydrometeors in the troposphere maintain efficient conversion and release large amounts of latent heat that formed positive feedback with convection, which was the critical reason for the development and maintenance of the extreme rainstorm.

A modeling study of cloud physical properties of extreme and non-extreme precipitation in landfalling typhoons over China

Extreme rainfall associated with landfalling tropical cyclones (ERLTC) can bring severe disaster losses. Revealing the typical characteristics and formation mechanisms of ERLTC has important scientific significance and potential application value. In this study, cloud microphysical properties of extreme and non-extreme rainfall in three landfalling TCs over China under the similar climatic backgrounds are comparatively investigated based on the cloud resolving simulations with a novel quantitative separating method of cold (warm) rain from the total precipitation. Results show that the warm (cold) rain may shape (modulate) the area (intensity) of TC precipitation. During the extreme precipitation period of the strongest TC Lekima (2019), the amount of cold rain accounts for >3/4 of the total precipitation, which plays a leading role in the precipitation rapid enhancement. With the increase of precipitation intensity, the proportion of cold (warm) rain to total precipitation tends to increase (decrease). The area near eyewall is commonly dominated by warm rain due to the weak radar echoes there. During the extreme precipitation process induced by Lekima (2019), the hydrometeor contents (mainly rain water and snow) increase rapidly and maintain for a long time. The processes of water vapor condensation, accretion of cloud water by rain water and melting of snow are the most active. In addition, the comparison with Hagupit (2020) and Yagi (2018) reveals that the processes of raindrop collecting graupel then melting, and the weak evaporation of raindrop make considerable contributions to the formation of extreme precipitation caused by Lekima (2019).

A New Parameterization of the Accretion of Cloud Water by Snow and Its Evaluation through Simulations of Mesoscale Convective Systems

Abstract A new parameterization of the accretion of cloud water by snow for use in bulk microphysics schemes is derived as an analytic approximation of the stochastic collection equation (SCE), where the theoretical collision efficiency for individual snowflake–cloud droplet pairs is applied. The snowflake shape is assumed to be nonspherical with the mass–size and area–size relations suggested by an observational study. The performance of the new parameterization is compared to two parameterizations based on the continuous collection equation, one with the spherical shape assumption for snowflakes (SPH-CON), and the other with the nonspherical shape assumption employed in the new parameterization (NSP-CON). In box model simulations, only the new parameterization reproduces a relatively slow decrease in the cloud droplet number concentration, which is predicted by the direct SCE solver. This results from considering the preferential collection of cloud droplets depending on their sizes in the new parameterization based on the SCE. In idealized squall-line simulations using a cloud-resolving model, the new parameterization predicts heavier precipitation in the convective core region compared to SPH-CON, and a broader area of the trailing stratiform rain compared to NSP-CON due to the horizontal advection of greater amount of snow in the upper layer. In the real-case simulations of a line-shaped mesoscale convective system that passed over the central Korean Peninsula, the new parameterization predicts higher frequencies of light precipitation rates and lower frequencies of heavy precipitation rates. The relatively large amount of upper-level snow in the new parameterization contributes to a broadening of the area with significant snow water path.

Sea-Salt Aerosol Effects on the Simulated Microphysics and Precipitation in a Tropical Cyclone

We investigate the effects of sea-salt aerosol (SSA) activated as cloud condensation nuclei on the microphysical processes, precipitation, and thermodynamics of a tropical cyclone (TC). The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) was used together with a parameterization of SSA production. Three simulations, with different levels of SSA emission (CTL, LOW, HIGH), were conducted. The simulation results show that SSA contributes to the processes of autoconversion of cloud water and accretion of cloud water by rain, thereby promoting rain formation. The latent heat release increases with SSA emission, slightly increasing horizontal wind speeds of the TC. The presence of SSA also regulates the thermodynamic structure and precipitation of the TC. In the HIGH simulation, higher latent heat release gives rise to stronger updrafts in the TC eyewall area, leading to enhanced precipitation. In the LOW simulation, due to decreased latent heat release, the temperature in the TC eye is lower, enhancing the downdrafts in the region; and because of conservation of mass, updrafts in the eyewall also strengthen slightly; as a result, precipitation in the LOW experiment is a little higher than that in the CTL experiment. Overall, the relationship between the precipitation rate and SSA emission is nonlinear.

Precipitation Efficiency and Water Budget of Typhoon Fitow (2013): A Particle Trajectory Study

Abstract In this study, the WRF Model is used to simulate the torrential rainfall of Typhoon Fitow (2013) over coastal areas of east China during its landfall. Data from the innermost model domain are used to trace trajectories of particles in three major 24-h accumulated rainfall centers using the Lagrangian flexible particle dispersion model (FLEXPART). Surface rainfall budgets and cloud microphysical budgets as well as precipitation efficiency are analyzed along the particles’ trajectories. The rainfall centers with high precipitation efficiency are associated with water vapor convergence, condensation, accretion of cloud water by raindrops, and raindrop loss/convergence. The raindrop loss/convergence over rainfall centers is supported by the raindrop gain/divergence over the areas adjacent to rainfall centers. Precipitation efficiency is mainly determined by hydrometeor loss/convergence. Hydrometeor loss/convergence corresponds to the hydrometeor flux convergence, which may be related to the increased vertical advection of hydrometeors in response to the upward motions and upward decrease of hydrometeors, whereas hydrometeor gain/divergence corresponds to the reduction in hydrometeor flux convergence, which may be associated with the decreased horizontal advection of hydrometeors in response to the zonal decrease in hydrometeors and easterly winds and the meridional increase in hydrometeors and southerly winds. The water vapor convergence and associated condensation do not show consistent relationships with orographic lifting all the time.

A numerical simulation of latent heating within Typhoon Molave

The weather research and forecasting (WRF) model is a new generation mesoscale numerical model with a fine grid resolution (2 km), making it ideal to simulate the macro- and micro-physical processes and latent heating within Typhoon Molave (2009). Simulations based on a single-moment, six-class microphysical scheme are shown to be reasonable, following verification of results for the typhoon track, wind intensity, precipitation pattern, as well as inner-core thermodynamic and dynamic structures. After calculating latent heating rate, it is concluded that the total latent heat is mainly derived from condensation below the zero degree isotherm, and from deposition above this isotherm. It is revealed that cloud microphysical processes related to graupel are the most important contributors to the total latent heat. Other important latent heat contributors in the simulated Typhoon Molave are condensation of cloud water, deposition of cloud ice, deposition of snow, initiation of cloud ice crystals, deposition of graupel, accretion of cloud water by graupel, evaporation of cloud water and rainwater, sublimation of snow, sublimation of graupel, melting of graupel, and sublimation of cloud ice. In essence, the simulated latent heat profile is similar to ones recorded by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, although specific values differ slightly.

Torrential rainfall processes associated with a landfall of Typhoon Fitow (2013): A three‐dimensional WRF modeling study

AbstractIn this study, Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) with triply nested grid and the finest grid size of 3 km is utilized to simulate Typhoon Fitow (2013). The simulation is verified with available observations. The model well captures the track, eyewall, and rainband structures and also reproduces radar reflectivity and vertical profiles of temperature, water vapor mixing ratio, and winds. Area mean budget shows that water vapor convergence leads to condensation, which produces rainfall through accretion of cloud water by rain and melting of graupel. Over convective regions, water vapor convergence generates condensation, which feeds convective rainfall and supports transport of raindrops to stratiform regions through accretion of cloud water by rain. Over stratiform regions, melting of graupel and the transport of raindrops from convective regions are major sources for stratiform rainfall. The results are further strengthened by the analysis of the data in a storm‐following coordinate using different convective‐stratiform rainfall separation schemes.

The hydrometeor partitioning and microphysical processes over the Pacific Warm Pool in numerical modeling

Numerical modeling is conducted to study the hydrometeor partitioning and microphysical source and sink processes during a quasi-steady state of thunderstorms over the Pacific Warm Pool by utilizing the microphysical model WISCDYMM to simulate selected storm cases. The results show that liquid-phase hydrometeors dominate thunderstorm evolution over the Pacific Warm Pool. The ratio of ice-phase mass to liquid-phase mass is about 41%: 59%, indicating that ice-phase water is not as significant over the Pacific Warm Pool as the liquid water compared to the larger than 50% in the subtropics and ~80% in the US High Plains in a previous study. Sensitivity tests support the dominance of liquid-phase hydrometeors over the Pacific Warm Pool.The major rain sources are the key hail sinks: melting of hail and shedding from hail; whereas the crucial rain sinks are evaporation and accretion by hail. The major snow sources are Bergeron-Findeisen process, transfer of cloud ice to snow and accretion of cloud water; whereas the foremost sink of snow is accretion by hail. The essential hail sources are accretions of rain, cloud water, and snow; whereas the critical hail sinks are melting of hail and shedding from hail. The contribution and ranking of sources and sinks of these precipitates are compared with the previous study.Hydrometeors have their own special microphysical processes in the development and depletion over the Pacific Warm Pool. Microphysical budgets depend on atmospheric dynamical and thermodynamical conditions which determine the partitioning of hydrometeors. This knowledge would benefit the microphysics parameterization in cloud models and cumulus parameterization in global circulation models.

Simulation of the Microphysical Processes and Effect of Latent Heat on a Heavy Rainfall Event in Beijing

An extraordinary rainstorm that occurred in Beijing on 21 July 2012 was simulated using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. The results showed that: (1) The two precipitation phases were based on a combi- nation of cold cloud processes and warm cloud processes. The accumulated conversion amount and conversion rate of microphysical processes in the warm-area phase were all much larger than those in the cold front phase. (2) 72.6% of rainwater was from the warm-area phase. Rainwater mainly came from the melting of graupel and the melting of snow, while the accretion of cloud water by rain ranked second. (3) The net heating rate with height appeared as an overall warming with two strong heating centers in the lower and middle layers of the troposphere and a minimum heating center around the melting layer. The net heating effect in the warm-area phase was stronger than that in the cold front phase. (4) Warm cloud processes contributed most to latent heat release, and the thermal effect of cold cloud processes on the storm in the cold front phase was enhanced compared to that in the warm-area phase. (5) The melting of graupel and snow contributed most to latent heat absorption, and the effect of the evaporation of rainwater was significantly reduced in the cold front phase.

Dominant cloud microphysical processes of a torrential rainfall event in Sichuan, China

High-resolution numerical simulation data of a rainstorm triggering debris flow in Sichuan Province of China simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model were used to study the dominant cloud microphysical processes of the torrential rainfall. The results showed that: (1) In the strong precipitation period, particle sizes of all hydrometeors increased, and mean-mass diameters of graupel increased the most significantly, as compared with those in the weak precipitation period; (2) The terminal velocity of raindrops was the strongest among all hydrometeors, followed by graupel’s, which was much smaller than that of raindrops. Differences between various hydrometeors’ terminal velocities in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period, which favored relative motion, collection interaction and transformation between the particles. Absolute terminal velocity values of raindrops and graupel were significantly greater than those of air upward velocity, and the stronger the precipitation was, the greater the differences between them were; (3) The orders of magnitudes of the various hydrometeors’ sources and sinks in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period, causing a difference in the intensity of precipitation. Water vapor, cloud water, raindrops, graupel and their exchange processes played a major role in the production of the torrential rainfall, and there were two main processes via which raindrops were generated: abundant water vapor condensed into cloud water and, on the one hand, accretion of cloud water by rain water formed rain water, while on the other hand, accretion of cloud water by graupel formed graupel, and then the melting of graupel formed rain water.

GCMs with implicit and explicit representation of cloud microphysics for simulation of extreme precipitation frequency

The present study aims to develop a general circulation model (GCM) with improved simulation of heavy precipitation frequency by improving the representations of cloud and rain processes. GCMs with conventional convective parameterizations produce common bias in precipitation frequency: they overestimate light precipitation and underestimate heavy precipitation with respect to observed values. This frequency shift toward light precipitation is attributed here to a lack of consideration of cloud microphysical processes related to heavy precipitation. The budget study of cloud microphysical processes using a cloud-resolving model shows that the melting of graupel and accretion of cloud water by graupel and rain water are important processes in the generation of heavy precipitation. However, those processes are not expressed explicitly in conventional GCMs with convective parameterizations. In the present study, the cloud microphysics is modified to allow its implementation into a GCM with a horizontal resolution of 50 km. The newly developed GCM, which includes explicit cloud microphysics, produces more heavy precipitation and less light precipitation than conventional GCMs, thus simulating a precipitation frequency that is closer to the observed. This study demonstrates that the GCM requires a full representation of cloud microphysics to simulate the extreme precipitation frequency realistically. It is also shown that a coarse-resolution GCM with cloud microphysics requires an additional mixing process in the lower troposphere.

Microphysical differences with rainfall intensity in severe tropical storm Bilis

AbstractSimulated rainfall of severe tropical storm Bilis (2006) is classified into eight types based on precipitation intensity. Cloud microphysical budget analysis shows that Pracw (accretion of cloud water by rain) and Pgmlt (melting of graupel) are the two main sources of raindrops. Unlike Pracw, whose magnitude monotonously increases with increasing precipitation intensity, Pgmlt increases at first and then decreases. This indicates that Pgmlt plays a more important role in weaker precipitation than in stronger precipitation, although Pracw and Pgmlt are always the main sources of raindrops.

The cloud-microphysical cause of torrential rainfall amplification associated with Bilis (0604)

After its landfall in China’s mainland in 2006, Typhoon Bilis brought about torrential rainfall amplification at the edge of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Hunan provinces, causing severe disasters. From a cloud-microphysical perspective, we discuss the differences of cloud-microphysical processes before and during the precipitation amplification and possible causes of the rainfall amplification by using high-resolution simulation data. The results show that the cloud-microphysical characteristics during the above two periods are significantly different. With the distinct increase in the rainfall intensity, the cloud hydrometeor contents increase markedly, especially those of the ice-phase hydrometeors including ice, snow and graupel, contributing more to the surface rainfall. The clouds develop highly and vigorously. Comparisons of conversion rates of the cloud hydrometeors between the above two periods show that the distinct increases in the cloud water content caused by the distinct enhancement of the water vapor condensation rate contribute to the surface rainfall mainly in two ways. First, the rain water content increases significantly by accretion of cloud water by rain water, which thus contributes to the surface rainfall. Second, the accretion of cloud water by snow increases significantly the content of snow, which is then converted to graupel by accretion of snow by graupel. And then the graupel melts into rain water, which subsequently contributes to the surface rainfall amplification. In summary, a flow chart is given to clarify the cloud-microphysical cause of the torrential rainfall amplification associated with Bilis.

Numerical simulation of deep convective cloud seeding using liquid carbon dioxide

In this study, a one-dimensional transient cumulonimbus cloud is modeled to be seeded by liquid CO2. The model includes microphysical and dynamical processes associated with glaciogenic seeding by homogenous ice nucleation and two thermal terms associated with seeding by −90 ºC liquid CO2. For this model, the study concentrates on five types of hydrometeors, namely, cloud droplet, cloud ice, snow, hail/graupel, and rain. Point and horizontal seeding methods are implemented to observe their implications for rainfall enhancement, amount of hail/graupel production, vertical cloud extension, and radar’s reflectivity. In addition, the seeding temperature effects on the rainfall and microphysical processes are investigated. The results of the study show that, the rainfall enhancement and rainfall intensity in the point seeding case are more than those in the horizontal seeding. Moreover, the study reveals that, there is a vertical cloud extension enhancement of 0.5 km for clouds with top height of 10.5 km. The most important sources of the rain water production are found to be the accretion of cloud water by rain (P RACW) and by snow (P SACW), and for the graupel production is dry growth of the graupel (P GDRY). The results of this study are confirmed by the results of other investigators and are found to be comparable with the recorded data at rain gauge stations.

A numerical simulation of the effect of the number concentration of cloud droplets on Typhoon Chanchu

In recent years, an increase in the number of anthropogenic aerosol particles has raised the global mean content of aerosol particles in the atmosphere from that of preindustrial times. The indirect effects of aerosols on weather and climate cannot be ignored. In this paper, the fifth generation Pennsylvania State University (PSU)–National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Nonhydrostatic Mesoscale Model (MM5) is used to simulate Typhoon Chanchu (international designation: 0601), which affected the northwest Pacific. Simulations are conducted in three two-way nested domains with Mercator map projection. The horizontal grid resolutions of the three domains are 27, 9, and 3 km. A period of 60 h is simulated. Surface and rawinsonde conventional observation data and ocean wind data are additionally incorporated into the initialization data. A control (CTL) experiment is run to produce a reasonable forecast. We change the parameter of the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration (CNP) in the Reisner-2 scheme of the CTL experiment (the default value is 100 cm−3) to conduct two sensitivity experiments. They are the very clean marine (VCM) CNP experiment (CNP = 25 cm−3) and the severe contamination (SC) CNP experiment (CNP = 1,000 cm−3). We investigate the effects of the CNP on Typhoon Chanchu by comparing and analyzing the simulation results of the three experiments in terms of the track, intensity, precipitation, vertical structure, and microphysical processes. The main results show that Typhoon Chanchu slightly weakens as the CNP increases. Increasing the CCN to 1,000 cm−3 results in less graupel, rainwater, and cloud ice but more cloud water. However, the mixing ratio of snow does not distinctly change as the CNP changes. Increasing the CCN leads a rapid decrease in the autoconversion of cloud water to rainwater. There is no autoconversion of cloud water to rainwater in a seriously polluted continental air mass. As the CNP increases, there is more condensation, evaporation, accretion of cloud water by rainwater, and precipitation fallout. Finally, a seriously polluted continental air mass can result in distinctly lower precipitation efficiency.

Silver iodide seeding impact on the microphysics and dynamics of convective clouds in the high plains

The concept of dynamic seeding is a physically plausible hypothesis but has not yet been confirmed by observations or numerical simulations. To verify the hypothesis of dynamic seeding, a three-dimensional nonhydrostatic cloud model with two-moment bulk microphysics scheme has been used to investigate the effects of silver iodide seeding on cloud microphysics, dynamics and precipitation of convective storms. Eight species of water are included in the model: vapor, cloud water, rain, cloud ice, snow, graupel, frozen drops and hail. A High Plains hailstorm case developed on 1 August 1981 during the Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment season is used for the simulations. The simulated cloud system consists of two cloud cycles during the period of integration. The second-cycle clouds are the dominant precipitation producer of the simulation, contributes about 80% of the total surface precipitation, which are caused by interactions of the downdraft outflow induced by falling precipitation from the first cycle cloud in the boundary layer and the southeasterly relative inflow at low level. The model results show that the cold microphysical processes dominate the hydrometeor production in the simulated storms. The ice hydrometeors account for ~ 70% of the total hydrometeor mass. Accretion of cloud water is the dominant growth mechanism for precipitating ice hydrometeors. Melting of graupel and accretion of cloud water by rain are the major sources of rain water. Conversion of graupel is the largest source of hail formation, contributing about 80%. Four seeding tests have been carried out to investigate the effects of seeding at a different release mode (instantaneous or continuous, one grid point or several grid points), and with different amounts of the seeding agent. All of cases are seeded in the region of the strongest updraft when the model cloud top was passing the − 10 °C level at 10 min, and produce significant effects. The cloud seeding results in substantial increases in accumulated precipitation at the surface in all seeded cases (by 20–30%). Moreover, both rainfall and hailfall have increased due to seeding. The most important contribution to the increase in hail is due to conversion of graupel to hail and accretion of cloud water by hail. Increase of graupel melting and subsequent accretion of cloud water by rain contribute mostly to rain enhancement. The seeding enhances the unloading effect of precipitation mass mainly in the form of graupel, leads to a stronger downdraft outflow and enhanced convergence in the boundary layer, further causes the secondary clouds to form earlier and grow larger. The enhanced updraft increases the inflow and causes the cloud to process more water vapor and thereby cloud water, resulting in increase of accretional growth of cloud water by precipitating particles, finally the precipitation enhancement. These results indicate that silver iodide seeding could significantly influence the cloud dynamics, microphysics and further precipitation of convective storms in the High Plains. The simulation not only supports the hypothesis of dynamic seeding, but also demonstrates that the convective cloud with a cold base but a long lifetime has dynamic seeding potential as well.

A Mechanism for Heavy Precipitation over the Kii Peninsula Accompanying Typhoon Meari (2004)

An extremely heavy precipitation event occurred in the mountainous Kii Peninsula in Japan, associated with Typhoon Meari in 2004. A marked characteristic of this heavy precipitation was its extreme rainfall rate, more than 100 mm h-1. Another feature was that the area of precipitation was far from the storm center, more than 500 km. From radar and surface observations, it was found that the heavy rains were composed of a stationary precipitation system and two moving precipitation systems.In order to evince a physical mechanism for the precipitation systems, the event was analyzed in detail using data from cloud-resolving simulations and observations. The results demonstrated that the heavy precipitation was produced in a synergistic manner from the three precipitation systems. The following are identified as the key factors for the formation and maintenance of each precipitation system: a) elimination of vertical convective instability in a low-level warm and moist easterly on the eastern slope of the mountainous region, b) moisture supply due to a low-level confluent flow along the boundary between the low-level easterly and south-easterly flow, and lifting of a slightly warmer south-easterly flow, and c) low-level convergence due to cold pool, running nearly parallel to the rainband axis and located slightly to the southwest of the band, acting as an obstacle to the low-level inflow into the system.Precipitation efficiency revealed that precipitation was enhanced when moving precipitation systems merged with the stationary precipitation system. The enhancement was attributed to the greater rate of conversion of cloud water to rainwater via accretion of cloud water by rain, under the condition of intense water vapor flux convergence. The moving precipitation systems provided raindrops for the accretion of cloud droplets in the stationary precipitation system. Based on our findings, extremely heavy precipitation in the present case is caused by the enhancement of the accretion process due to the merger of precipitation systems in addition to precipitation in each system.

Parameterization of aerosol indirect effect to complement McRAS cloud scheme and its evaluation with the 3-year ARM-SGP analyzed data for single column models

Microphysics of clouds with the Relaxed Arakawa–Schubert Scheme (McRAS) was upgraded for simulating the Aerosol Indirect Effects (AIE) for water clouds. The AIE comprises of i) Fountoukis and Nenes aerosol activation module for obtaining cloud condensation nuclei; ii) Seifert and Beheng algorithms for precipitation microphysics but with modified accretion constant for the coarse vertical-resolution typical of a global general circulation model (GCM); and iii) Khvorostyanov and Curry parameterization for computing the effective radius ( r e ) of cloud drops. The upgraded package, named McRAS-AC, was evaluated using the 3-year ARM-SGP Single Column Model (SCM) data. Invoking only the most dominant sulfate aerosols over the region, McRAS-AC simulated realistic annual mean and annual cycles of cloud water, cloud optical thicknesses, cloud drop number concentration, and r e . The follow-on SCM-sensitivity simulations showed that accretion of cloud water is sensitive to i) the terminal velocity of hydrometeors produced by autoconversion and ii) cloud height increases due to in-cloud condensation heating. The impact of aerosol mass concentration on the resultant column cloud water, and bulk optical properties of clouds were assessed by using 1/8 to 8 times the average monthly aerosol mass concentration estimates of GOCART aerosol climatology. A log-linear relation between cloud-radiative forcing and aerosol-mass concentration emerged in the simulated data.