Theoretical study of mixing in liquid clouds - Part 1: Classical concept

Relationships between basic microphysical parameters are studied within the framework of homogeneous and extreme inhomogeneous mixing. Analytical expressions and numerical simulations of relationships between droplet concentration, extinction coefficient, liquid water content, and mean volume droplet size, formed at the final stage of mixing are presented. The expressions are used to identify type of mixing for in-situ observations obtained in convective clouds. The analysis suggests that for the set of observations investigated here, the interaction between cloudy and entrained environments is dominated by inhomogeneous mixing. Lastly, an analysis of different response times of the cloud environment undergoing mixing is presented. Comparisons of different characteristic times suggest that within the same mixing environment depending on mixing fraction some volumes may be dominated by homogeneous mixing whereas others by inhomogeneous mixing.