Tropical convective responses to microphysical and radiative processes: a sensitivity study with a 2-D cloud resolving model

Summary Prognostic cloud schemes are increasingly used in weather and climate models in order to better treat cloud-radiation processes. Simplifications are often made in such schemes for computational efficiency, like the scheme being used in the National Centers for Environment Prediction models that excludes some microphysical processes and precipitation-radiation interaction. In this study, sensitivity tests with a 2-D cloud resolving model are carried out to examine effects of the excluded microphysical processes and precipitation-radiation interaction on tropical thermodynamics and cloud properties. The model is integrated for 10 days with the imposed vertical velocity derived from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment. The experiment excluding the depositional growth of snow from cloud ice shows anomalous growth of cloud ice and more than 20% increase of fractional cloud cover, indicating that the lack of the depositional snow growth causes unrealistically large mixing ratio of cloud ice. The experiment excluding the precipitation-radiation interaction displays a significant cooling and drying bias. The analysis of heat and moisture budgets shows that the simulation without the interaction produces more stable upper troposphere and more unstable mid and lower troposphere than does the simulation with the interaction. Thus, the suppressed growth of ice clouds in upper troposphere and stronger radiative cooling in mid and lower troposphere are responsible for the cooling bias, and less evaporation of rain associated with the large-scale subsidence induces the drying in mid and lower troposphere.     

吉林一次降水层状云的结构和物理过程研究

利用机载粒子测量系统的探测结果,配合雷达及地面降水资料,结合一维层状云模式,通过对吉林2004年7月1日的一例降水性层状云系的宏微观物理结构和降水机制的定量化分析,对顾震潮三层模型有了进一步的认识.观测资料表明,该降水过程为典型的层状云降水,地面降水存在不均匀性,云系结构符合顾震潮三层概念模型,其中第1层为尺度很小的冰...     

A two-moment parameterization of aerosol nucleation and impaction scavenging for a warm cloud microphysics: description and results from a two-dimensional simulation

A new two-moment warm bulk scheme has been developed including explicitly nucleation and impaction scavenging of aerosol particles as well as all other microphysical processes. The scheme is built upon a quasispectral representation of the aerosol particle, cloud droplet and raindrop distributions. It predicts mixing ratios and number concentrations for each category. Each process is treated explicitly and independently to establish an analytic expression for each contribution for the time-dependant microphysical equations. The scheme has been tested in the dynamical framework of a two-dimensional kinematic model, developed for the Hawaiian Rainband Project (HaRP, 1990). In this frame, the scheme has performed reasonably well compared to the observations as well as to other similar parameterization schemes, and to the spectral model DESCAM.Sensitivity tests demonstrate the great sensitivity of the scheme to the initial aerosol spectrum characteristics. Moreover, they have also shown its capability to calculate nucleation and impaction scavenging and to follow the taken up particle mass in the cloud and raindrop spectra until the deposition on the ground by the rain.Therefore, the parameterization offers a possibility of treating the evolution of the liquid phase of the cloud together with the aerosol particle scavenging. However, due to the severe limitations of a two-dimensional kinematic model, the scheme needs to be further validated in a three-dimensional dynamical model.     

Impact of cloud dynamics on tropospheric chemistry: Advances in modeling the interactions between microphysical and chemical processes

A chemical module describing the tropospheric photochemistry of ozone precursors in both gaseous and aqueous phases for a remote continental atmosphere has been developed within the framework of a two-dimensional cloud model. Dynamical, microphysical and chemical processes are fully interacting in order to study the influence of clouds on ozone chemistry and to quantify the relative importance of the different processes on the budget and evolution of 12 chemical species. Whereas the concentrations of highly soluble species are strongly affected by evaporation and sedimentation, less soluble species are affected primarily by accretion. The model reproduces previously observed chemical phenomena such as the enrichment of formic acid at the top of the cloud.     

基于雷达资料四维变分同化及云模式的中尺度对流系统数值临近预报试验

基于雷达资料快速刷新四维变分同化(RR4DVar)初始化的三维数值云模式,利用京津冀6部新一代多普勒天气雷达和区域自动气象站观测资料,针对2013年7月4日出现在京津冀平原地区的中尺度对流系统(MCS),开展了数值临近预报试验。研究结果表明,充分考虑雷达观测信息的对流尺度数值临近预报具有很大的优势,但也存在不足:(1)模式能够较好地把握中尺度对流系统的组织发展和移动演变特征,对风暴回波带的走向和尺度特征有较好的预报,但对强回波的强度和位置预报存在一定偏差;(2)模式预报可以反映风暴系统的中小尺度扰动特征,对风暴冷池和出流边界(阵风锋)的发展变化均有较为合理的预报;(3)模式对强降水中心和雨带位置的预报有很大优势,能较好地预报弱降水雨带的分布形势和雨量,但对强降水落区的预报偏大;(4)模式对风暴造成的对流性强降水的预报准确率较高,对0.5—10 mm阈值的降水范围预报偏差比较合理,对10 mm以上降水范围的预报偏大,但是对弱降水风暴的弱回波较强回波的预报性能要好;(5)由于三维数值云模式对京津冀复杂地形的处理不够完善,对山前风场预报偏差较大,造成对山前风暴的发展演变和山前降水的预报偏差较大。     

A study on the transition mechanism of a stratus cloud into a warm sea fog using a single column model PAFOG coupled with WRF

The transition mechanism of stratus cloud into warm sea fog over the Yellow Sea near the western coastal area of the Korean Peninsula is investigated using numerical simulation with a 1D turbulence model, PAFOG, coupled with a 3D regional model, WRF. The coupled model system was run in the two approaches, Eulerian and Lagrangian. For the selected warm sea fog case, the model results in the Eulerian approach showed that the bottom of the stratus cloud was lowered by cooling of the air just below the cloud base by turbulent heat loss. The Lagrangian approach showed the lowering of the stratus cloud top, owing to the evaporation of cloud droplets in this region by the entrainment of warm and dry air above the cloud top. The sensitivity test to SST indicated that the timing of water vapor saturation just below the cloud base depended on the magnitude of the turbulent heat flux from the sea surface. The subsidence rate was found to be important: when the subsidence rate was set to be half of the prescribed value, neither the lowering of the stratus cloud top nor the bottom occurred and the model could not produce a fog.     

WRF模式不同云参数化方案的暴雨预报能力检验及集成试验

利用WRFV3. 6的8种微物理方案和6种积云参数化方案对湖北及其周边地区夏季12次暴雨过程进行回报,分析各种方案对暴雨预报的影响。结果显示,各种方案均能较好地预报出降水过程,但其降水强度和范围存在一定差异。当积云参数化方案为KF方案时,对Lin、WSM6、Thompson、Morrison 2-mom、CAM5. 1、WDM5、WDM6、NSSL 2-mom微物理方案做敏感性试验,发现CAM 5. 1方案优于其他7种微物理方案,M orrison 2-mom次之。当微物理方案为CAM 5. 1时,对KF、BM J、GD、SAS、G3D、Tiedtke积云参数化方案做敏感性试验,发现在不同量级降水预报中,6种积云参数化方案各有优劣。综合考虑,GD、SAS、Tiedtke积云参数化方案优于其他3种方案。在此基础上开展多方案集成试验,结果表明集合平均(ensemble mean,EMN)在一定程度上可以减少预报误差,降低单个成员预报的不确定性。     

Impact of precipitating ice on the simulation of a heavy rainfall event with advanced research WRF using two bulk microphysical schemes

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model version 3.2 is used to examine the impact of precipitating ice and especially snow-graupel partitioning in the simulation of a heavy rainfall event over Chalkidiki peninsula in Northern Greece. This major precipitation event, associated with a case of cyclogenesis over the Aegean Sea, occurred on the 8th of October 2006 causing severe flooding and damage. Two widely used microphysical parameterizations, the Purdue Lin (PLIN) and WRF Single-Moment 6-class scheme (WSM6) are compared with available raingauge measurements over the complex topography of Chalkidiki. To further investigate the importance of snow and graupel relative mass content and the treatment of precipitating ice sedimentation velocity, two older versions of the WSM6 scheme were compiled and run with the current model. The verification results indicate that all simulations were found to match raingauge data more closely over the eastern mountainous Chalkidiki peninsula where maximum accumulations were observed. In other stations all schemes overestimate 24h accumulated rainfall except a station situated at the western part of the peninsula, where none of the simulations was able to reproduce observed rainfall. Graupel dominance in PLIN generates rapid precipitation fallout at the point of maximum predicted 24h accumulation. Similar behavior is shown in WSM6 from WRF version 2, but with significant less rainfall. Increasing snow amounts aloft, due to the unified treatment of precipitating ice in WSM6 from WRF version 3, modifies rain dynamics which decrease rainfall rates, but increases 24h accumulations. A sensitivity experiment where PLIN is used with snow accretion by graupel turned off, indicated that this process seems to be the most important factor controlling the differences in surface precipitation between PLIN and WSM6 from WRF version 3, determining the spatial and temporal distribution of this heavy precipitation event. The results also revealed that snow overestimation can lead to high rainfall accumulations, even though rain is more evenly distributed over the 24h period, deteriorating precipitation forecast.     

The atmospheric component of the Mediterranean Sea water budget in a WRF multi-physics ensemble and observations

The use of high resolution atmosphere–ocean coupled regional climate models to study possible future climate changes in the Mediterranean Sea requires an accurate simulation of the atmospheric component of the water budget (i.e., evaporation, precipitation and runoff). A specific configuration of the version 3.1 of the weather research and forecasting (WRF) regional climate model was shown to systematically overestimate the Mediterranean Sea water budget mainly due to an excess of evaporation (~1,450 mm yr^?1) compared with observed estimations (~1,150 mm yr^?1). In this article, a 70-member multi-physics ensemble is used to try to understand the relative importance of various sub-grid scale processes in the Mediterranean Sea water budget and to evaluate its representation by comparing simulated results with observed-based estimates. The physics ensemble was constructed by performing 70 1-year long simulations using version 3.3 of the WRF model by combining six cumulus, four surface/planetary boundary layer and three radiation schemes. Results show that evaporation variability across the multi-physics ensemble (～10 % of the mean evaporation) is dominated by the choice of the surface layer scheme that explains more than ～70 % of the total variance and that the overestimation of evaporation in WRF simulations is generally related with an overestimation of surface exchange coefficients due to too large values of the surface roughness parameter and/or the simulation of too unstable surface conditions. Although the influence of radiation schemes on evaporation variability is small (～13 % of the total variance), radiation schemes strongly influence exchange coefficients and vertical humidity gradients near the surface due to modifications of temperature lapse rates. The precipitation variability across the physics ensemble (～35 % of the mean precipitation) is dominated by the choice of both cumulus (～55 % of the total variance) and planetary boundary layer (～32 % of the total variance) schemes with a strong regional dependence. Most members of the ensemble underestimate total precipitation amounts with biases as large as 250 mm yr^?1 over the whole Mediterranean Sea compared with ERA Interim reanalysis mainly due to an underestimation of the number of wet days. The larger number of dry days in simulations is associated with a deficit in the activation of cumulus schemes. Both radiation and planetary boundary layer schemes influence precipitation through modifications on the available water vapor in the boundary layer generally tied with changes in evaporation.     

Development of giant drops and high-reflectivity cores in Hawaiian clouds: numerical simulations using a kinematic model with detailed microphysics

Cores of high radar reflectivity (>50 dBZ) and raindrops larger than 4 mm in diameter were occasionally reported in warm clouds, offshore from Hawaii. A kinematic numerical model with detailed microphysics was used to study the formation of these cores and the development of the giant drops. The role of collisional and spontaneous breakup of drops was evaluated. Our results show that spontaneous breakup of raindrops restricts the formation of giant drops (D>4 mm). This could be a result of the poor parameterization of the fragment size distribution, and the probabilities of the spontaneous breakup. The inclusion of only binary breakup mechanism explained the observed radar echoes and the drop spectra. These results corroborate the hypothesis that the updrafts in the Hawaiian clouds sort out different size drops in such a way that millimeter size drops are allowed to fall in an environment deficient of smaller raindrops. In this way, the large raindrops continue to grow by collection of small cloud droplets, but have a smaller chance for collisional breakup (the efficiency for this type of breakup is small for collisions with cloud droplets). The collisional breakup of big raindrops was also found to play a significant role in the formation of giant drops. Such drops are formed following collision–breakup of large raindrops in which one of the fragments is larger than the original drops.     

Examination of sulfate chemistry sensitivity in a mid-latitude and tropical storm using a cloud resolving model

We examine the sensitivities of heterogeneous sulfate chemistry in a mid-latitude and tropical storm using a cloud resolving model. Both thermodynamic environments show unstable conditions favorable for development of intensive convection, with more CAPE in tropical compared to mid-latitude storm. Compared with the observed severe storms, modeled results show a relatively good agreement with the radar and surface chemical observations. Microphysical evaluation indicates that the accretion and autoconversion appear to be most important processes in such considered clouds. This sensitivity simulation is an upper bound for conversion of S (IV) to sulfate. The tropical convective storm produces for about 2.5 times more sulfate compared to mid-latitude storm and converts more SO₂ to sulfate, increasing wet deposition of sulfur. The results for a midlatitude run indicate that aerosol nucleation and impact scavenging account for between 18.9% and 28.9% of the in-cloud sulfate ultimately deposited. As a result of greater rainfall efficiency, tropical storm shows about two times higher sub-cloud scavenging rate than mid-latitude storm. The oxidation of S (IV) to SO₄ ^?2 in cloud droplets and in precipitation is found to be dominant in both convective storms accounting almost with the same percentage contribution of 45.4% and 46.3% to sulfur deposition, respectively. In-cloud oxidation contribute a larger fraction of the total amount of sulfur deposited in tropical case (29.2%) when compared to the mid-latitude case (11.8), respectively. Neglecting aqueous-phase chemistry in ice-phase hydrometeors in both convective clouds led to overpredict deposition of about 40% to 33% relative to the base runs.     

An investigation of the small ice cap instability in the Southern Hemisphere with a coupled atmosphere-sea ice-ocean-terrestrial ice model

 A simple climate model has been developed to investigate the existence of the small ice cap instability in the Southern Hemisphere. The model consists of four coupled components: an atmospheric energy balance model, a thermodynamic snow-sea ice model, an oceanic mixed layer model and a terrestrial ice model. Results from a series of experiments involving different degrees of coupling in the model show that the instability appears only in those cases when an explicit representation of the Antarctic ice sheet is not included in the model. In order to determine which physical processes in the ice sheet model lead to a stabilization of the system we have conducted several sensitivity experiments in each of which a given ice sheet process has been removed from the control formulation of the model. Results from these experiments suggest that the feedback between the elevation of the ice sheet and the snow accumulation-ice ablation balance is responsible for the disappearance of the small ice cap instability in our simulation. In the model, the mass balance of the ice sheet depends on the air temperature at sea level corrected for altitude and it is, therefore, a function of surface elevation. This altitude-mass balance feedback effectively decouples the location of the ice edge from any specific sea level isotherm, thus decreasing the model sensitivity to the albedo-temperature feedback, which is responsible for the appearance of the instability. It is also shown that the elevation-radiative cooling feedback tends to stabilize the ice sheet, although its effect does not seem to be strong enough to remove the instability. Another interesting result is that for those simulations which include the terrestrial ice model with elevation-dependent surface mass balance, hysteresis is exhibited, where for a given level of external forcing, two stable solutions with different, non-zero ice-sheet volume and area and different air and ocean temperature fields occur. However, no unstable transition between the two solutions is ever observed. Our results suggest that the small ice cap instability mechanism could be unsuitable for explaining the inception of glaciation in Antarctica. Received: 14 April 1997 / Accepted: 22 October 1997     

乌鲁木齐冬季冷锋云带和锋下层积云的微物理结构及其降雪特征

本文根据1983年11月7日云物理专业考查飞机对乌鲁木齐冬季一次冷锋降水前期的云与降水微结构观测,进行了分析与研究,结果表明:在冷锋降雪初始阶段,云具有多层结构,锋上存在一条宽约5km的云带,估计云带中的上升气流大于0.8m·s~(-1),具有窄对流云带的某些特征。冰晶初始形成于温度为-17℃的锋上云带顶部。在锋上与锋下存在两个过冷水区,据此判断在冷锋降雪前期具有人工增雪条件。     

2014年青藏高原云和降水多种雷达综合观测试验及云特征初步分析结果

加密外场试验可提供云降水物理过程新的数据。2014年7月1日—8月31日,第3次青藏高原大气科学试验项目组在那曲开展了水汽、云和降水的综合观测,使用了中国最先进的Ka波段毫米波云雷达、Ku波段微降水雷达、C波段连续波雷达和激光雷达,并配以微波辐射计、雨滴谱仪等设备,获取了高时空分辨率的云和降水宏微观垂直结构特征数据;利用C波段双线偏振雷达与新一代天气雷达配对,进行双多普勒雷达观测,获取青藏高原对流云三维风场和降水粒子相态的结构和演变数据。文中简单介绍了本次试验的情况,并利用这次观测的云雷达数据对那曲地区夏季云的云顶和云底高度、云厚、云量、云层数等特征的日变化进行了初步统计分析,对不同类型云的宏观特征进行了讨论。结果表明:本次外场试验首次成功获取到了多种雷达的云观测数据。那曲地区夏季云主要集中在6 km(距地面高度,下同)以上和4 km以下;总云量、高云的云顶、云量和云厚等云的统计参数有明显的日变化,10时(北京时)为云发展最弱的时段,20时云发展最为旺盛;初生的积云和层云常常出现在3 km高度上,这一高度上常常存在明显的上升气流;深对流系统高度可达16.5 km,同时存在上升气流和下沉气流,对流中可能存在过冷水。这些数据和初步结果为进一步开展高原云和降水机理、云和降水物理过程参数化方案研究及卫星反演结果的订正提供了基础。