Dominant Cloud Microphysical Processes of a Torrential Rainfall Event in Sichuan, China

High-resolution numerical simulation data of a rainstorm triggering debris flow in Sichuan Province of China simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） Model were used to study the dominant cloud microphysical processes of the torrential rainfall.The results showed that：（1） In the strong precipitation period,particle sizes of all hydrometeors increased,and mean-mass diameters of graupel increased the most significantly,as compared with those in the weak precipitation period; （2） The terminal velocity of raindrops was the strongest among all hydrometeors,followed by graupel＇s,which was much smaller than that of raindrops.Differences between various hydrometeors＇ terminal velocities in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period,which favored relative motion,collection interaction and transformation between the particles.Absolute terminal velocity values of raindrops and graupel were significantly greater than those of air upward velocity,and the stronger the precipitation was,the greater the differences between them were; （3） The orders of magnitudes of the various hydrometeors＇ sources and sinks in the strong precipitation period were larger than those in the weak precipitation period,causing a difference in the intensity of precipitation.Water vapor,cloud water,raindrops,graupel and their exchange processes played a major role in the production of the torrential rainfall,and there were two main processes via which raindrops were generated：abundant water vapor condensed into cloud water and,on the one hand,accretion of cloud water by rain water formed rain water,while on the other hand,accretion of cloud water by graupel formed graupel,and then the melting of graupel formed rain water.

Impact of Cloud Microphysical Processes on the Simulation of Typhoon Rananim near Shore. Part I： Cloud Structure and Precipitation Features

By using the Advanced Regional Eta-coordinate Model （AREM）, the basic structure and cloud features of Typhoon Rananim are simulated and verified against observations. Five sets of experiments are designed to investigate the effects of the cloud microphysical processes on the model cloud structure and precipitation features. The importance of the ice-phase microphysics, the cooling effect related to microphysical characteristics change, and the influence of terminal velocity of graupel are examined. The results indicate that the cloud microphysical processes impact more on the cloud development and precipitation features of the typhoon than on its intensity and track. Big differences in the distribution pattern and content of hydro-meteors, and types and amount of rainfall occur in the five experiments, resulting in different heating and cooling effects. The largest difference of 24-h rain rate reaches 52.5 mm h-1 . The results are summarized as follows： 1） when the cooling effect due to the evaporation of rain water is excluded, updrafts in the typhoon＇s inner core are the strongest with the maximum vertical velocity of -19 Pa s-1 and rain water and graupel grow most dominantly with their mixing ratios increased by 1.8 and 2.5 g kg-1, respectively, compared with the control experiment; 2） the melting of snow and graupel affects the growth of rain water mainly in the spiral rainbands, but much less significantly in the eyewall area; 3） the warm cloud microphysical process produces the smallest rainfall area and the largest percentage of convective precipitation （63.19%）, while the largest rainfall area and the smallest percentage of convective precipitation （48.85%） are generated when the terminal velocity of graupel is weakened by half.

Impact of Cloud Microphysical Processes on the Simulation of Typhoon Rananim near Shore. Part II： Typhoon Intensity and Track

The impact of cloud microphysical processes on the simulated intensity and track of Typhoon Rananim is discussed and analyzed in the second part of this study. The results indicate that when the cooling effect due to evaporation of rain water is excluded, the simulated 36-h maximum surface wind speed of Typhoon Rananim is about 7 m s-1 greater than that from all other experiments; however, the typhoon landfall location has the biggest bias of about 150 km against the control experiment. The simulated strong outer rainbands and the vertical shear of the environmental flow are unfavorable for the deepening and maintenance of the typhoon and result in its intensity loss near the landfall. It is the cloud microphysical processes that strengthen and create the outer spiral rainbands, which then increase the local convergence away from the typhoon center and prevent more moisture and energy transport to the inner core of the typhoon. The developed outer rainbands are supposed to bring dry and cold air mass from the middle troposphere to the planetary boundary layer （PBL）. The other branch of the cold airflow comes from the evaporation of rain water itself in the PBL while the droplets are falling. Thus, the cut-off of the warm and moist air to the inner core and the invasion of cold and dry air to the eyewall region are expected to bring about the intensity reduction of the modeled typhoon. Therefore, the deepening and maintenance of Typhoon Rananim during its landing are better simulated through the reduction of these two kinds of model errors.

Comparison of the Bright Band Characteristics Measured by Micro Rain Radar (MRR) at a Mountain and a Coastal Site in South Korea

Data from a long term measurement of Micro Rain Radar （MRR） at a mountain site （Daegwallyeong, DG, one year period of 2005） and a coastal site （Haenam, HN, three years 2004-2006） in South Korea were analyzed to compare the MRR measured bright band characteristics of stratiform precipitation at the two sites. On average, the bright band was somewhat thicker and the sharpness （average gradient of reflectivity above and below the reflectivity peak） was slightly weaker at DG, compared to those values at HN. The peak reflectivity itself was twice as strong and the relative location of the peak reflectivity within the bright band was higher at HN than at DG. Importantly, the variability of these values was much larger at HN than at DG. The key parameter to cause these differences is suggested to be the difference of the snow particle densities at the two sites, which is related to the degree of riming. Therefore, it is speculated that the cloud microphysical processes at HN may have varied significantly from un-rimed snow growth, producing low density snow particles, to the riming of higher density particles, while snow particle growth at DG was more consistently affected by the riming process, and therefore high density snow particles. Forced uplifting of cloudy air over the mountain area around DG might have resulted in an orographic supercooling effect that led to the enhanced riming of supercooled cloud drops.

A Modified Double-Moment Bulk Microphysics Scheme Geared toward the East Asian Monsoon Region

Representation of cloud microphysical processes is one of the key aspects of numerical models.An improved double-moment bulk cloud microphysics scheme(named IMY)was created based on the standard Milbrandt-Yau(MY)scheme in the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model for the East Asian monsoon region(EAMR).In the IMY scheme,the shape parameters of raindrops,snow particles,and cloud droplet size distributions are variables instead of fixed constants.Specifically,the shape parameters of raindrop and snow size distributions are diagnosed from their respective shape-slope relationships.The shape parameter for the cloud droplet size distribution depends on the total cloud droplet number concentration.In addition,a series of minor improvements involving detailed cloud processes have also been incorporated.The improved scheme was coupled into the WRF model and tested on two heavy rainfall cases over the EAMR.The IMY scheme is shown to reproduce the overall spatial distribution of rainfall and its temporal evolution,evidenced by comparing the modeled results with surface gauge observations.The simulations also successfully capture the cloud features by using satellite and ground-based radar observations as a reference.The IMY has yielded simulation results on the case studies that were comparable,and in ways superior to MY,indicating that the improved scheme shows promise.Although the simulations demonstrated a positive performance evaluation for the IMY scheme,continued experiments are required to further validate the scheme with different weather events.

THE MICROPHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF SNOW CLOUDS AND THE GROWTH PROCESS OF SNOW PARTICLES IN WINTER IN XINJIANG

The microphysical structure of snow clouds and the growth process of snow crystals were observed by means of instrumented aircraft, weather radar, snow crystal observations etc. in Urumqi region during the winter of 1982. The analysis of three cases show that about 70% of snow mass growth is produced in the lower layer below 2000 m under the cold front, and that the concentration of ice crystals is as high as 60 L^(-1) and the supercooled water is absent in lower clouds. We may infer that the deposition of ice crystals and the aggregation of snow crystals are important processes for the snow development. The microphysical structure of the snow band near the front aloft and its characteristics as a seeder cloud are also described in this paper.

A Simulation Study on the Characteristics of Cloud Microphysics of Heavy Rainfall in the Meiyu Front

A heavy rainfall in the Meiyu front during 4-5 July 2003 is simulated by use of the non-hydrostatic mesoscale model MM5 （V3-6） with different explicit cloud microphysical parameterization schemes. The characteristics of microphysical process of convective cloud are studied by the model outputs. The simulation study reveals that： （1） The mesoscale model MM5 with explicit cloud microphysical process is capable of simulating the instant heavy rainfall in the Meiyu front, the rainfall simulation could be improved signifi- cantly as the model resolution is increased, and the Goddard scheme is better than the Reisner or Schultz scheme. （2） The convective cloud in the Meiyu front has a comprehensive structure composed of solid, liquid and vapor phases of water, the mass density of water vapor is the largest one in the cloud; the next one is graupel, while those of ice, snow, rain water and the cloud water are almost same. The height at which mass density peaks for different hydrometeors is almost unchangeable during the heavy rainfall period. The mass density variation of rain water, ice, and graupel are consistent with that of ground precipitation, while that of water vapor in the low levels is 1-2 h earlier than the precipitation. （3） The main contribution to the water vapor budget in the atmosphere is the convergence of vapor flux through advection and convection, which provides the main vapor source of the rainfall. Besides the basic process of the auto-conversion of cloud water to rain water, there is an additional cloud microphysical process that is essential to the formation of instant heavy rainfall, the ice-phase crystals are transformed into graupels first and then the increased graupels mix with cloud water and accelerates the conversion of cloud water to rain water. The positive feedback mechanism between latent heat release and convection is the main cause to maintain and develop the heavy precipitation.