Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: refers to the microscale processes that affect cloud and precipitation particles and is a key linkage among the various components of Earth's atmospheric water and energy cycles. The representation of microphysical processes in models continues to pose a major challenge leading to uncertainty in numerical weather forecasts and climate simulations. In this paper, the problem of treating microphysics in models is divided into two parts: (i) how to represent the population of cloud and precipitation particles, given the impossibility of simulating all particles individually within a cloud, and (ii) uncertainties in the microphysical process rates owing to fundamental gaps in knowledge of cloud physics. The recently developed Lagrangian particle-based method is advocated as a way to address several conceptual and practical challenges of representing particle populations using traditional bulk and bin microphysics parameterization schemes. For addressing critical gaps in cloud physics knowledge, sustained investment for observational advances from laboratory experiments, new probe development, and next-generation instruments in space is needed. Greater emphasis on laboratory work, which has apparently declined over the past several decades relative to other areas of cloud physics research, is argued to be an essential ingredient for improving process-level understanding. More systematic use of natural cloud and precipitation observations to constrain microphysics schemes is also advocated. Because it is generally difficult to quantify individual microphysical process rates from these observations directly, this presents an inverse problem that can be viewed from the standpoint of Bayesian statistics. Following this idea, a probabilistic framework is proposed that combines elements from statistical and physical modeling. Besides providing rigorous constraint of schemes, there is an added benefit of quantifying uncertainty systematically. Finally, a broader hierarchical approach is proposed to accelerate improvements in microphysics schemes, leveraging the advances described in this paper related to process modeling (using Lagrangian particle-based schemes), laboratory experimentation, cloud and precipitation observations, and statistical methods.
DOI: 10.1029/2019ms001689
Authors: Hugh Morrison, Marcus van Lier‐Walqui, Ann M. Fridlind, Wojciech W. Grabowski, Jerry Y. Harrington, Corinna Hoose, Alexei Korolev, Matthew R. Kumjian, Jason A. Milbrandt, Hanna Pawlowska, Derek J. Posselt, Olivier P. Prat, Karly J. Reimel, Shin‐Ichiro Shima, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Lulin Xue
Institutions: NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, Pennsylvania State University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Environment and Climate Change Canada, University of Warsaw, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, University of Hyogo, RIKEN Center for Computational Science
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,800
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, California Institute of Technology, European Commission, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Horizon 2020
Awards: G314627641, G3202715738, G4751969170, UNDERSTANDING PROCESSES CONTROLLING THE TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL VARIATIONS OF PBL STRUCTURES OVER THE ARM SGP SITE, G496573850, G6195818568, SEE SCHEDULE, G6269256874, IMPROVING PARAMETERIZATION OF ICE MICROPHYSICAL PROCESSES IN ARCTIC CLOUDS USING A SYNERGISTIC MODELING AND OBSERVATIONAL APPROACH, DEVELOPING AND TESTING A NOVEL STOCHASTIC ICE MICROPHYSICS PARAMETERIZATION FOR CLOUD AND CLIMATE MODELS USING ARM FIELD CAMPAIGN DATA, G7448625620, G7749390531, Laboratory and Modeling Studies of the Growth Efficiency of Vapor Grown Ice
OpenAlex ID: W3023073569