U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
A new parameterization of ice heterogeneous nucleation coupled to aerosol chemistry in WRF-Chem model version 3.5.1: evaluation through ISDAC measurements
Journal Article·· Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
In the Arctic, during polar night and early spring, ice clouds are separated into two leading types of ice clouds (TICs): (1) TIC1 clouds characterized by a large concentration of very small crystals and TIC2 clouds characterized by a low concentration of large ice crystals. Using a suitable parameterization of heterogeneous ice nucleation is essential for properly representing ice clouds in meteorological and climate models and subsequently understanding their interactions with aerosols and radiation. Here, we describe a new parameterization for ice crystal formation by heterogeneous nucleation in water-subsaturated conditions coupled to aerosol chemistry in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem). The parameterization is implemented in the Milbrandt and Yau (2005a, b) two-moment cloud microphysics scheme, and we assess how the WRF-Chem model responds to the run-time interaction between chemistry and the new parameterization. Well-documented reference cases provided us with in situ data from the spring 2008 Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) over Alaska. Our analysis reveals that the new parameterization clearly improves the representation of the ice water content (IWC) in polluted or unpolluted air masses and shows the poor performance of the reference parameterization in representing ice clouds with low IWC. The new parameterization is able to represent TIC1 and TIC2 microphysical characteristics at the top of the clouds, where heterogenous ice nucleation is most likely occurring, even with the known bias of simulated aerosols by WRF-Chem over the Arctic.
Keita, Setigui Aboubacar, et al. "A new parameterization of ice heterogeneous nucleation coupled to aerosol chemistry in WRF-Chem model version 3.5.1: evaluation through ISDAC measurements." Geoscientific Model Development (Online), vol. 13, no. 11, Nov. 2020. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5737-2020
Keita, Setigui Aboubacar, Girard, Eric, Raut, Jean-Christophe, Leriche, Maud, Blanchet, Jean-Pierre, Pelon, Jacques, Onishi, Tatsuo, & Cirisan, Ana (2020). A new parameterization of ice heterogeneous nucleation coupled to aerosol chemistry in WRF-Chem model version 3.5.1: evaluation through ISDAC measurements. Geoscientific Model Development (Online), 13(11). https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5737-2020
Keita, Setigui Aboubacar, Girard, Eric, Raut, Jean-Christophe, et al., "A new parameterization of ice heterogeneous nucleation coupled to aerosol chemistry in WRF-Chem model version 3.5.1: evaluation through ISDAC measurements," Geoscientific Model Development (Online) 13, no. 11 (2020), https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-5737-2020
@article{osti_1751933,
author = {Keita, Setigui Aboubacar and Girard, Eric and Raut, Jean-Christophe and Leriche, Maud and Blanchet, Jean-Pierre and Pelon, Jacques and Onishi, Tatsuo and Cirisan, Ana},
title = {A new parameterization of ice heterogeneous nucleation coupled to aerosol chemistry in WRF-Chem model version 3.5.1: evaluation through ISDAC measurements},
annote = {In the Arctic, during polar night and early spring, ice clouds are separated into two leading types of ice clouds (TICs): (1) TIC1 clouds characterized by a large concentration of very small crystals and TIC2 clouds characterized by a low concentration of large ice crystals. Using a suitable parameterization of heterogeneous ice nucleation is essential for properly representing ice clouds in meteorological and climate models and subsequently understanding their interactions with aerosols and radiation. Here, we describe a new parameterization for ice crystal formation by heterogeneous nucleation in water-subsaturated conditions coupled to aerosol chemistry in the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem). The parameterization is implemented in the Milbrandt and Yau (2005a, b) two-moment cloud microphysics scheme, and we assess how the WRF-Chem model responds to the run-time interaction between chemistry and the new parameterization. Well-documented reference cases provided us with in situ data from the spring 2008 Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) over Alaska. Our analysis reveals that the new parameterization clearly improves the representation of the ice water content (IWC) in polluted or unpolluted air masses and shows the poor performance of the reference parameterization in representing ice clouds with low IWC. The new parameterization is able to represent TIC1 and TIC2 microphysical characteristics at the top of the clouds, where heterogenous ice nucleation is most likely occurring, even with the known bias of simulated aerosols by WRF-Chem over the Arctic.},
doi = {10.5194/gmd-13-5737-2020},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1751933},
journal = {Geoscientific Model Development (Online)},
issn = {ISSN 1991-9603},
number = {11},
volume = {13},
place = {United States},
publisher = {European Geosciences Union},
year = {2020},
month = {11}}
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US). Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Data Center
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Network on Climate and Aerosols: Addressing Key Uncertainties in Remote Canadian Environments (NETCARE); Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Contributing Organization:
PNNL, BNL, ANL, ORNL
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1751933
Journal Information:
Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online) Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 13; ISSN 1991-9603