Large-eddy simulations of contrails in a turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

In this work, the evolution of contrails in the vortex and dissipation regimes is studied by means of fully three-dimensional large-eddy simulation (LES) coupled to a Lagrangian particle tracking method to treat the ice phase. This is the first paper where fine-scale atmospheric turbulence is generated and sustained by means of a stochastic forcing that mimics the properties of stably stratified turbulent flows as those occurring in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere. The initial flow-field is composed by the turbulent background flow and a wake flow obtained from separate LES of the jet regime. Atmospheric turbulence is the main driver of the wake instability and the structure of the resulting wake is sensitive to the intensity of the perturbations, primarily in the vertical direction. A stronger turbulence accelerates the onset of the instability, which results in shorter contrail decent and more effective mixing in the interior of the plume. However, the self-induced turbulence that is produced in the wake after the vortex break-up dominates over background turbulence at the end of the vortex regime and dominates the mixing with ambient air. This results in global microphysical characteristics such as ice mass and optical depth that are be slightly affected by the intensity of atmospheric turbulence. On the other hand, the background humidity and temperature have a first order effect on the survival of ice crystals and particle size distribution, which is in line with recent and ongoing studies in the literature.