Modelling of cirrus clouds-Part 1b: Structuring cirrus clouds by dynamics

Abstract

A recently developed and validated bulk microphysics scheme for modelling cirrus clouds (Spichtinger and Gierens, 2009), implemented into the anelastic nonhydrostatic model EULAG is used for investigation of the impact of dynamics on the evolution of an arctic cirrostratus. Sensitivity studies are performed, using variation of large-scale updraughts as well as addition of small-scale temperature fluctuations and wind shear. The results show the importance of sedimentation of ice crystals on cloud evolution. Due to non-linear processes like homogeneous nucleation situations can arise where small changes in the outer parameters have large effects on the resulting cloud structure. In-cloud ice supersaturation is a common feature of all our simulations, and we show that dynamics is as least as important for its appearance than is microphysics.