Aerosol Effects on Simulated Storm Electrification and Precipitation in a Two-Moment Bulk Microphysics Model

AbstractThe effects of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations are found to strongly affect the microphysical and electrical evolution of a numerically simulated small multicell storm. The simulations reproduce the well-known effects of updraft invigoration and delay of precipitation formation as increasing CCN from low to intermediate concentrations causes droplet sizes to decrease. Peak updrafts increased from 16 m s−1 at the lowest CCN to a maximum of 21–22 m s−1 at moderate CCN, where condensation latent heating is maximized. The transition from low to high CCN first maximizes warm-rain production before switching over to the ice process as the dominant precipitation mechanism. Average graupel density stays fairly high and constant at lower CCN, but then drops monotonically at higher CCN concentration, although high CCN also foster the appearance of small regions of larger, high-density graupel with high simulated radar reflectivity.Graupel production increases monotonically as CCN concentratio...

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