Dispersion of particles in complex terrain: comparisons between WRF LES and simulations using different PBL schemes

Abstract:

A key process in wintertime orographic cloud seeding using ground-based generators is the dispersion of silver iodide particles released from the generators in the mountainous area. The dispersion features determine the targeting efficiency and ultimately the seeding effect on the ground under favorable seeding conditions. Previous field experiments showed that the silver iodide plumes were narrow (spread angle was around 20 degrees) and were confined within the mountainous boundary layer (usually lower than 1 km AGL). The numerical simulation of the particle dispersion in complex terrain using weather models is challenging due to the stable atmosphere in winter, the unresolved terrain-flow interaction, and the inherent numerical diffusion close to the source point in the Eulerian framework. A recent study by Xue et al. (2014) showed that Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of the particle dispersion in complex terrain with grid spacing of 100 m could reproduce most observed features while simulations using PBL schemes with 500 m grid spacing had difficulty reproducing the vertical dispersion. This study will simulate the same case using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in LES mode and with several PBL schemes. The differences between the LES-simulated dispersion results and the PBL results will be analyzed and presented. Especially, the difference attributed to the unrepresented sub-grid scale (SGS) topography information in the PBL will be studied in detail. The ultimate goal of this study is to incorporate the dispersion due to turbulent kinetic energy induced by SGS topography into the existing PBL schemes to better simulate the process in mountainous regions.