Redistribution of ice nuclei between cloud and rain droplets: Parameterization and application to deep convective clouds: ICE NUCLEI IN RAIN DROPLETS
[2];
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Germany; Now at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Germany
- Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, Leipzig Germany
In model studies of aerosol-dependent immersion freezing in clouds, a common assumption is that each ice nucleating aerosol particle corresponds to exactly one cloud droplet. Conversely, the immersion freezing of larger drops—“rain”—is usually represented by a liquid volume-dependent approach, making the parameterizations of rain freezing independent of specific aerosol types and concentrations. This may lead to inconsistencies when aerosol effects on clouds and precipitation shall be investigated, since raindrops consist of the cloud droplets—and corresponding aerosol particles—that have been involved in drop-drop-collisions. We introduce an extension to a two-moment microphysical scheme in order to account explicitly for particle accumulation in raindrops by tracking the rates of selfcollection, autoconversion, and accretion. This also provides a direct link between ice nuclei and the primary formation of large precipitating ice particles. A new parameterization scheme of drop freezing is presented to consider multiple ice nuclei within one drop and effective drop cooling rates. In our test cases of deep convective clouds, we find that at altitudes which are most relevant for immersion freezing, the majority of potential ice nuclei have been converted from cloud droplets into raindrops. Compared to the standard treatment of freezing in our model, the less efficient mineral dust-based freezing results in higher rainwater contents in the convective core, affecting both rain and hail precipitation. The aerosol-dependent treatment of rain freezing can reverse the signs of simulated precipitation sensitivities to ice nuclei perturbations.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC0576RL01830; (VH-NG-620); (HO 4612/1-1 and HO 4612/1-2)
- OSTI ID:
- 1347960
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 1942-2466
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Similar Records
Aerosol Impacts on Clouds and Precipitation in Eastern China: Results from Bin and Bulk Microphysics
The microphysics of the warm-rain and ice crystal processes of precipitation in simulated continental convective storms