The 13–14 December 2001 IMPROVE-2 Event. Part III: Simulated Microphysical Budgets and Sensitivity Studies
Open Access
- 1 October 2005
- journal article
- Published by American Meteorological Society in Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences
- Vol. 62 (10) , 3535-3558
- https://doi.org/10.1175/jas3552.1
Abstract
This paper investigates the microphysical pathways and sensitivities within the Reisner-2 bulk microphysical parameterization (BMP) of the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) for the Improvement of Microphysical Parameterization through Observational Verification Experiment (IMPROVE)-2 field experiment on 13–14 December 2001. A microphysical budget over the windward slope at 1.33-km horizontal grid spacing was calculated, in which the importance of each microphysical process was quantified relative to the water vapor loss (WVL) rate. Over the windward Cascades, the largest water vapor loss was associated with condensation (73% of WVL) and snow deposition (24%), and the windward surface precipitation resulted primarily from accretion of cloud water by rain (27% of WVL), graupel fallout and melt (19%), and snowmelt (6%). Two-thirds of the snow generated aloft spilled over into the lee in an area of model overpredic... Abstract This paper investigates the microphysical pathways and sensitivities within the Reisner-2 bulk microphysical parameterization (BMP) of the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU–NCAR) Mesoscale Model (MM5) for the Improvement of Microphysical Parameterization through Observational Verification Experiment (IMPROVE)-2 field experiment on 13–14 December 2001. A microphysical budget over the windward slope at 1.33-km horizontal grid spacing was calculated, in which the importance of each microphysical process was quantified relative to the water vapor loss (WVL) rate. Over the windward Cascades, the largest water vapor loss was associated with condensation (73% of WVL) and snow deposition (24%), and the windward surface precipitation resulted primarily from accretion of cloud water by rain (27% of WVL), graupel fallout and melt (19%), and snowmelt (6%). Two-thirds of the snow generated aloft spilled over into the lee in an area of model overpredic...Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Bulk Microphysical Sensitivities within the MM5 for Orographic Precipitation. Part I: The Sierra 1986 EventMonthly Weather Review, 2004
- Bulk Microphysical Sensitivities within the MM5 for Orographic Precipitation. Part II: Impact of Barrier Width and Freezing LevelMonthly Weather Review, 2004
- Sensitivity of Orographic Precipitation to Changing Ambient Conditions and Terrain Geometries: An Idealized Modeling PerspectiveJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 2004
- The 5–9 February 1996 Flooding Event over the Pacific Northwest: Sensitivity Studies and Evaluation of the MM5 Precipitation ForecastsMonthly Weather Review, 2000
- Evaluation of MM5 and Eta-10 Precipitation Forecasts over the Pacific Northwest during the Cool SeasonWeather and Forecasting, 1999
- Evaluation of key microphysical parameters in three‐dimensional cloud‐model simulations using aircraft and multiparameter radar dataQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1997
- Interactions between Topographic Airflow and Cloud/Precipitation Development during the Passage of a Winter Storm in ArizonaJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1994
- Evaluation of a Two-Dimensional Kinematic Cloud Model Using Data from a Central Sierra Nevada Orographic Cloud SystemJournal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 1992
- A Simple Scheme for Objective Analysis in Curved FlowMonthly Weather Review, 1985
- An Analysis of Cloud Drop Growth by Collection: Part IV. A New ParameterizationJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1974