Uncertainty of Microphysics Schemes in CRMs

Abstract:

Microphysics is the framework through which to understand the links between interactive aerosol, cloud and precipitation processes. These processes play a critical role in the water and energy cycle. CRMs with advanced microphysics schemes have been used to study the interaction between aerosol, cloud and precipitation processes at high resolution. But, there are still many uncertainties associated with these microphysics schemes. This has arisen, in part, from the fact microphysical processes cannot be measured directly; instead, cloud properties, which can be measured, are and have been used to validate model results.

The utilization of current and future global high-resolution models is rapidly increasing and are at what has been traditional CRM resolutions and are using microphysics schemes that were developed in traditional CRMs. A potential NASA satellite mission called the Cloud and Precipitation Processes Mission (CaPPM) is currently being planned for submission to the NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey. This mission could provide the necessary global estimates of cloud and precipitation properties with which to evaluate and improve dynamical and microphysical parameterizations and the feedbacks. In order to facilitate the development of this mission, CRM simulations have been conducted to identify microphysical processes responsible for the greatest uncertainties in CRMs.

In this talk, we will present results from numerical simulations conducted using two CRMs (NU-WRF and RAMS) with different dynamics, radiation, land surface and microphysics schemes. Specifically, we will conduct sensitivity tests to examine the uncertainty of the some of the key ice processes (i.e. riming, melting, freezing and shedding) in these two-microphysics schemes. The idea is to quantify how these two different models’ respond (surface rainfall and its intensity, strength of cloud drafts, LWP/IWP, convective-stratiform-anvil area distribution) to changes of these key ice microphysics processes. Preliminary results indicate similar model responses to changes of the riming process, thus suggesting that CRM simulations are particularly sensitive to riming independent of the modeling framework or the dynamical core. We will present more quantitative analyses of the models’ responses to the meeting.