TY - JOUR
T1 - Impacts of cloud microphysics parameterizations on simulated aerosol-cloud interactions for deep convective clouds over Houston
AU - Zhang, Yuwei
AU - Fan, Jiwen
AU - Li, Zhanqing
AU - Rosenfeld, Daniel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 EDP Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/2/18
Y1 - 2021/2/18
N2 - Aerosol-cloud interactions remain largely uncertain with respect to predicting their impacts on weather and climate. Cloud microphysics parameterization is one of the factors leading to large uncertainty. Here, we investigate the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on the convective intensity and precipitation of a thunderstorm occurring on 19 June 2013 over Houston with the Chemistry version of Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF-Chem) using the Morrison two-moment bulk scheme and spectral bin microphysics (SBM) scheme. We find that the SBM predicts a deep convective cloud that shows better agreement with observations in terms of reflectivity and precipitation compared with the Morrison bulk scheme that has been used in many weather and climate models. With the SBM scheme, we see a significant invigoration effect on convective intensity and precipitation by anthropogenic aerosols, mainly through enhanced condensation latent heating. Such an effect is absent with the Morrison two-moment bulk microphysics, mainly because the saturation adjustment approach for droplet condensation and evaporation calculation limits the enhancement by aerosols in (1) condensation latent heat by removing the dependence of condensation on droplets and aerosols and (2) ice-related processes because the approach leads to stronger warm rain and weaker ice processes than the explicit supersaturation approach.
AB - Aerosol-cloud interactions remain largely uncertain with respect to predicting their impacts on weather and climate. Cloud microphysics parameterization is one of the factors leading to large uncertainty. Here, we investigate the impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on the convective intensity and precipitation of a thunderstorm occurring on 19 June 2013 over Houston with the Chemistry version of Weather Research and Forecast model (WRF-Chem) using the Morrison two-moment bulk scheme and spectral bin microphysics (SBM) scheme. We find that the SBM predicts a deep convective cloud that shows better agreement with observations in terms of reflectivity and precipitation compared with the Morrison bulk scheme that has been used in many weather and climate models. With the SBM scheme, we see a significant invigoration effect on convective intensity and precipitation by anthropogenic aerosols, mainly through enhanced condensation latent heating. Such an effect is absent with the Morrison two-moment bulk microphysics, mainly because the saturation adjustment approach for droplet condensation and evaporation calculation limits the enhancement by aerosols in (1) condensation latent heat by removing the dependence of condensation on droplets and aerosols and (2) ice-related processes because the approach leads to stronger warm rain and weaker ice processes than the explicit supersaturation approach.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100934495&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5194/acp-21-2363-2021
DO - 10.5194/acp-21-2363-2021
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:85100934495
SN - 1680-7316
VL - 21
SP - 2363
EP - 2381
JO - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
JF - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
IS - 4
ER -