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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

Microphysics and Radiation Effect of Dust on Saharan Air Layer: An HS3 Case Study

A Saharan air layer (SAL) event associated with a nondeveloping African easterly wave (AEW) over the main development region of the eastern Atlantic was sampled by the NASA Global Hawk aircraft on 24-25 August 2013 during the NASA Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) campaign and was simulated with the NASA Unified Weather Research and Forecasting (NU-WRF) Model. Airborne, ground-based, and spaceborne measurements were used to evaluate the model performance. The microphysical and radiative effects of dust and other aerosols on the SAL structure and environment were investigated with the factor-separation method. The results indicate that relative to a simulation without dust-radiative and microphysical impacts, Saharan dust and other aerosols heated the SAL air mainly through shortwave heating by the direct aerosol-radiation (AR) effect, resulting in a warmer (up to 0.6 K) and drier (up to 5% RH reduction) SAL and maintaining the strong temperature inversion at the base of the SAL in the presence of predominant longwave cooling. Radiative heating of the dust accentuated a vertical circulation within the dust layer, in which air rose (sank) in the northern (southern) portions of the dust layer. Furthermore, above and to the south of the dust layer, both the microphysical and radiative impacts of dust tended to counter the vertical motions associated with the Hadley circulation, causing a small weakening and southward shift of convection in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and reduced anvil cloud to the north. Changes in moisture and cloud/precipitation hydrometeors were largely driven by the dust induced changes in vertical motion. Dust strengthened the African easterly jet by up to ~1ms(exp -1) at the southern edge of the jet, primarily through the AR effect, and produced modest increases in vertical wind shear within and in the vicinity of the dust layer. These modulations of the SAL and AEW environment clearly contributed to the nondevelopment of this AEW.

Tao, Zhining↗
NASA NTRS2018

A Satellite-Based Estimate of Combustion Aerosol Cloud Microphysical Effects over the Arctic Ocean

Climate predictions for the rapidly changing Arctic are highly uncertain, largely due to a poor understanding of the processes driving cloud properties. In particular, cloud fraction (CF) and cloud phase (CP) have major impacts on energy budgets, but are poorly represented in most models, often because of uncertainties in aerosol–cloud interactions. Here, we use over 10 million satellite observations coupled with aerosol transport model simulations to quantify large scale microphysical effects of aerosols on CF and CP over the Arctic Ocean during polar night, when direct and semi-direct aerosol effects are minimal. Combustion aerosols over sea ice are associated with very large (~10W/sq.m) differences in longwave cloud radiative effects at the sea ice surface. However, co-varying meteorological changes on factors such as CF likely explain the majority of this signal. For example, combustion aerosols explain at most 40% of the CF differences between the full dataset and the clean-condition subset, compared to between 57% and 91% of the differences that can be predicted by co-varying meteorology. After normalizing for meteorological regime, aerosol microphysical effects have small but significant impacts on CF, CP, and precipitation frequency on an Arctic-wide scale. These effects indicate that dominant aerosol–cloud microphysical mechanisms are related to the relative fraction of liquid-containing clouds, with implications for a warming Arctic.

Zamora, Lauren M.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Relationship of Multiwavelength Radar Measurements to Ice Microphysics from the IMPACTS Field Program

Coincident radar data with Doppler radar measurements at X, Ku, Ka, and W bands on the NASA ER-2 aircraft overflying the NASA P3 aircraft acquiring in-situ microphysical measurements are used to characterize the relationship between radar measurements and ice microphysical properties. The data were obtained from the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS. Direct measurements of the condensed water content as well as coincident Doppler radar measurements were acquired, facilitating improved estimates of ice particle mass, a variable that is an underlying factor for calculating and therefore retrieving the radar reflectivity (Z_(e)), median mass diameter (D_(m)), particle terminal velocity, and snowfall rate (S). The relationship between the measured ice water content (IWC) and that calculated from the particle size distributions (PSD) using relationships developed in earlier studies, and between the calculated and measured radar reflectivity at the four radar wavelengths, are quantified. Relationships are derived between the measured IWC and properties of the PSD, D_(m), Z_(e) at the four radar wavelengths and the dual-wavelength ratio. Because IWC and Z_(e) are measured directly, the coefficients in the mass-dimensional relationship that best match both the IWC and Z_(e) are derived. The relationships developed here, and the mass-dimensional relationship that uses both the measured IWC and Z_(e) to find a best match for both variables, can be used in studies that characterize the properties of wintertime snow clouds.

Andrew Heymsfield↗
DOE OSTI2013

Indian Summer Monsoon Drought 2009: Role of Aerosol and Cloud Microphysics

Cloud dynamics played a fundamental role in defining Indian summer monsoon (ISM) rainfall during drought in 2009. The anomalously negative precipitation was consistent with cloud properties. Although, aerosols inhibited the growth of cloud effective radius in the background of sparse water vapor, their role is secondary. The primary role, however, is played by the interactive feedback between cloud microphysics and dynamics owing to reduced efficient cloud droplet growth, lesser latent heating release and shortage of water content. Cloud microphysical processes were instrumental for the occurrence of ISM drought 2009.

2009↗
DOE OSTI2013

Two-moment Bulk Stratiform Cloud Microphysics in the Grid-point Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG (GAMIL)

A two-moment bulk stratiform microphysics scheme, including recently developed physically-based droplet activation/ice nucleation parameterizations has been implemented into the Grid-point Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG (GAMIL) as an effort to enhance the model capability for studying aerosol indirect effects. Unlike the previous one-moment cloud microphysics scheme, the new scheme produces reasonable representation of cloud particle size and number concentration. This scheme captures the observed spatial variations in cloud droplet number concentrations. Simulated ice crystal number concentrations in cirrus clouds qualitatively agree with in-situ observations. The longwave and shortwave cloud forcing are in better agreement with observations. Sensitivity tests show that the column cloud droplet number concentrations calculated from two different droplet activation parameterizations are similar. However, ice crystal number concentration in mixed-phased clouds is sensitive to different heterogeneous freezing formulations. The simulation with high ice crystal number concentration in mixed-phase clouds has less liquid water path and weaker cloud forcing. Furthermore, ice crystal number concentration in cirrus clouds is sensitive to different ice nucleation parameterizations. Sensitivity tests also suggest that impact of pre-existing ice crystals on homogeneous freezing in old clouds should be taken into account.

(GAMIL)↗
DOE OSTI2025

Uncertainty quantification and optimization of precipitating hydrometeor parameters for winter precipitation in a cloud microphysics scheme

The precipitating hydrometeor parameters used in cloud microphysics schemes carry inherent uncertainties. The quantification of these uncertainties, together with parameter optimization, can significantly improve precipitation forecasts. This study investigates the effects of 13 parameters in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Double-Moment 6-class (WDM6) microphysics scheme, which define the hydrometeor characteristics such as fall velocity–diameter and mass–diameter relationships, as well as the shape parameter of the drop size distribution for precipitating particles such as rain, snow, and graupel on simulated winter precipitation. A comparison between the model's pre-defined parameters and observations from the International Collaborative Experiments for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic winter games (ICE-POP 2018) field campaign reveals that the fall velocity–diameter relationship for rain, the mass–diameter relationships for snow and graupel, and the shape parameters for all precipitating particles in the WDM6 scheme deviate from the median values observed by the two-dimensional video disdrometer (2DVD). To quantify parameter sensitivities, a perturbed parameter ensemble (PPE) of 256 simulations was conducted within parameter ranges constrained by 2DVD observations for three winter precipitation cases. Bayesian optimization was then applied to identify parameter sets that minimized the root mean square error (RMSE) for each case, achieving reductions of up to 30.2 %. These results demonstrate that ensemble-based uncertainty quantification and parameter optimization can help identify key parameters and provide a pathway to improving precipitation simulation performance. In addition, measurement sites can be strategically selected based on regions that show high sensitivity to variations in hydrometeor characteristic parameters.

Bayesian optimization↗
DOE OSTI2019

Three‐Moment Representation of Rain in a Bulk Microphysics Model

Abstract A bulk three‐moment representation for rain microphysics is developed and implemented in the Predicted Particle Properties (P3) microphysics scheme. In addition, a new parameterization for rain self‐collection and collisional breakup (RSCB) is presented using a lookup table approach, based on the Spectral‐Bin Model (SBM). To quantify the impacts of sedimentation, evaporation, and RSCB on drop size distributions (DSDs), a rain shaft model is applied to a wide range of atmospheric scenarios (i.e., initial conditions and regimes) and compared against results from the SBM. DSD shapes are mainly determined by both sedimentation and evaporation, except in heavy rain where the impact of RSCB on DSD shape becomes more important than evaporation. The new parameterization for RSCB has a considerable impact on the mean drop size, improving the agreement between P3 and SBM. Only 4% of the original two‐moment rainshaft simulations have mean drop sizes and rain rates within ±20% of the SBM results, but this increases to more than 95% agreement when the three‐moment rain representation is used together with the new parameterization for RSCB. Generally, the improvement is more significant for heavy rain than for light drizzle. Remaining differences between bin and bulk model are attributable to treatments of evaporation, and the restriction to gamma DSDs in P3.

precipitation↗
DOE OSTI2019

Sensitivity of Simulated Deep Convection to a Stochastic Ice Microphysics Framework

Ice microphysics parameterizations in models must make major simplifications relative to observations, typically employing empirical relationships to represent average functional properties of particles. However, previous studies have established that ice particle properties vary even in similar cloud types and thermodynamic environments, and it remains unclear how this so-called “natural variability” impacts simulated deep convection. This uncertainty is addressed by implementing a stochastic framework into the Predicted Particle Properties microphysics scheme in the Weather Research and Forecasting model. The approach stochastically varies the coefficients of the mass-size (m-D) relationship (m=aD b ) for unrimed and partially rimed ice. Using guidance from aircraft in situ measurements obtained during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), the scheme samples from distributions of the prefactor (a) and the exponent (b) of the m-D relationship. Simulations of two MC3E deep convective cases indicate that the stochastic m-D scheme produces considerable variability of anvil cirrus cloud optical depth (τ) distributions, even for the same ice water path (IWP). Thus, the stochastic scheme produces variable cloud radiative forcing that is independent of IWP. This τ-IWP relationship variability is nonexistent using the deterministic m-D ensemble. Additional sensitivity tests are performed in which the fallspeed-size relationship (V=cD d ) is stochastically varied, resulting in variable precipitation amounts and rain rate distributions. Results are presented in the context of satellite and precipitation observations and include comparison with other ensemble configurations using perturbed initial and lateral boundary conditions and small-amplitude noise added to the potential temperature field.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effects of Lateral Entrainment Mixing With Entrained Aerosols on Cloud Microphysics

The effects of entrained environment air and aerosols on cloud properties remain a critical yet understudied topic. This study first introduces a new entraining cloud parcel model considering entrained aerosols. With entrained aerosols represented by a newly introduced parameter, the impacts of entrainment rate and entrained aerosols on cloud microphysical properties are investigated. The results here show that the relationships between entrainment rate and cloud microphysical properties are highly nonlinear when the entrained aerosols vary. With the lateral entrainment mixing, a new phenomenon is revealed that the height of maximum parcel supersaturation cannot be reached when the entrainment rate is beyond a certain critical value. This new critical entrainment rate is different from the critical entrainment rate defined by Barahona and Nenes (2007, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008473), beyond which clouds cannot form. This finding has important implications for developing parameterization of droplet activation, which is based primarily on the assumption of the existence of maximum supersaturation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Evolution of Droplet Size Distributions During the Transition of an Ultraclean Stratocumulus Cloud System to Open Cell Structure: An LES Investigation Using Lagrangian Microphysics

Here, a state-of-the-art Lagrangian microphysics scheme is used in a large-eddy simulation to investigate the stratocumulus transition from closed to open cell structure. Processes controlling precipitation development, which is a key to the transition, are analyzed by leveraging unique benefits of Lagrangian microphysics, particularly the ability to track computational drops in the flow. Sufficient time is needed for coalescence growth of cloud drops to drizzle within the updraft-downdraft cycle of large eddies. This favors broad drop size distributions (DSDs) and drizzle growth in downdrafts, where drops are typically much older than in updrafts. During the closed cell stage, mean cloud drop radius is too small, and the DSDs are too narrow, so that the timescale for coalescence is much longer than the large eddy turnover time and drizzle growth is limited. The closed-to-open cell transition occurs when these timescales become comparable and the precipitation flux increases sharply.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

Microphysical Effects Determine Macrophysical Response for Aerosol Impacts on Deep Convective Clouds

Deep convective clouds (DCCs) play a crucial role in the general circulation and energy and hydrological cycle of our climate system. Anthropogenic and natural aerosol particles can influence DCCs through changes in cloud properties, precipitation regimes, and radiation balance. Modeling studies have reported both invigoration and suppression of DCCs by aerosols, but none has fully quantified aerosol impacts on convection life cycle and radiative forcing. By conducting multiple month-long cloud-resolving simulations with spectral-bin cloud microphysics that capture the observed macro- and micro-physical properties of summer convective clouds in the tropics and mid-latitudes, this study provides the first comprehensive look at how aerosols affect cloud cover, cloud top height (CTH), and radiative forcing. Observations validate these simulation results. We find that microphysical aerosol effects contribute predominantly to increased cloud cover and CTH by inducing larger amount of smaller but longer lasting ice particles in the stratiform/anvils of DCCs with dynamical aerosol effects contributing at most ~ 1/4 of the total increase of cloud cover. The overall effect is a radiative warming in the atmosphere (3 to 5 W m-2) with strong surface cooling (-5 to -8 W m-2). Herein we clearly identified mechanisms more important than and additional to the invigoration effects hypothesized previously that explain the consistent signatures of increased cloud tops area and height by aerosols in DCCs revealed by observations.

aerosol↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cloud microphysical response to entrainment and mixing is locally inhomogeneous and globally homogeneous: Evidence from the lab

Entrainment of dry air into clouds strongly influences cloud optical and precipitation properties and the response of clouds to aerosol perturbations. The response of cloud droplet size distributions to entrainment–mixing is examined in the Pi convection-cloud chamber that creates a turbulent, steady-state cloud. The experiments are conducted by injecting dry air with temperature (T e ) and flow rate (Q e ) through a flange in the top boundary, into the otherwise well-mixed cloud, to mimic the entrainment–mixing process. Due to the large-scale circulation, the downwind region is directly affected by entrained dry air, whereas the upwind region is representative of the background conditions. Droplet concentration (Cn) and liquid water content (L) decrease in the downwind region, but the difference in the mean diameter of droplets (D m ) is small. The shape of cloud droplet size distributions relative to the injection point is unchanged, to within statistical uncertainty, resulting in a signature of inhomogeneous mixing, as expected for droplet evaporation times small compared to mixing time scales. As T e and Q e of entrained air increase, however, Cn, L, and D m of the whole cloud system decrease, resulting in a signature of homogeneous mixing. The apparent contradiction is understood as the cloud microphysical responses to entrainment and mixing differing on local and global scales: locally inhomogeneous and globally homogeneous. This implies that global versus local sampling of clouds can lead to seemingly contradictory results for mixing, which informs the long-standing debate about the microphysical response to entrainment and the parameterization of this process for coarse-resolution models.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Radar-Based Bayesian Estimation of Ice Crystal Growth Parameters within a Microphysical Model

The potential for polarimetric Doppler radar measurements to improve predictions of ice microphysical processes within an idealized model–observational framework is examined. In an effort to more rigorously constrain ice growth processes (e.g., vapor deposition) with observations of natural clouds, a novel framework is developed to compare simulated and observed radar measurements, coupling a bulk adaptive-habit model of vapor growth to a polarimetric radar forward model. Bayesian inference on key microphysical model parameters is then used, via a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler, to estimate the probability distribution of the model parameters. The statistical formalism of this method allows for robust estimates of the optimal parameter values, along with (non-Gaussian) estimates of their uncertainty. To demonstrate this framework, observations from Department of Energy radars in the Arctic during a case of pristine ice precipitation are used to constrain vapor deposition parameters in the adaptive habit model. The resulting parameter probability distributions provide physically plausible changes in ice particle density and aspect ratio during growth. A lack of direct constraint on the number concentration produces a range of possible mean particle sizes, with the mean size inversely correlated to number concentration. Consistency is found between the estimated inherent growth ratio and independent laboratory measurements, increasing confidence in the parameter PDFs and demonstrating the effectiveness of the radar measurements in constraining the parameters. Furthermore, the combined Doppler and polarimetric observations produce the highest-confidence estimates of the parameter PDFs, with the Doppler measurements providing a stronger constraint for this case.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Combined Effect of the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen Mechanism and Large Eddies on Microphysics of Mixed-Phase Stratiform Clouds

Abstract The process of glaciation in mixed-phase stratiform clouds was investigated by a novel Lagrangian–Eulerian model (LEM) in which thousands of adjoining Lagrangian parcels moved within a turbulent-like velocity field with statistical parameters typical of the Arctic boundary layer. We used detailed bin microphysics to describe the condensation/evaporation processes in each parcel, in which droplets, aerosols, and ice particles were described using size distributions of 500 mass bins. The model also calculated aerosol mass inside droplets and ice particles. Gravitational sedimentation of droplets and ice particles was also accounted for. Assuming that droplet freezing is the primary source of ice particles, the Arctic clouds observed in Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) were successfully simulated. The model showed that at a low ice particle concentration typical of ISDAC, large vortices (eddies) led to a quasi-stationary regime, in which mixed-phase St existed for a long time. The large eddies controlled the water partitioning in the mixed-phase clouds. Droplets formed and grew in updrafts, typically reaching the cloud top, and evaporated in downdrafts. Ice particles grew in updrafts and downdrafts. The Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen (WBF) mechanism was efficient in downdrafts and some parts of updrafts, depending on ice concentration and vertical velocity. At low ice concentrations, the effect of ice on the phase partitioning was negligible. In this regime, liquid droplets were found near the cloud top, whereas ice particles precipitated through the cloud base. When ice concentration exceeded about 10 L −1 , the WBF mechanism led to glaciation of almost the entire cloud, with the exception of narrow cloud regions associated with strong updrafts. At ice particle concentrations of a few tens per liter, the oscillatory regime took place due to the ice–liquid interaction. The microphysical structure of mixed-phase St forms as a combined effect of cloud dynamics (large eddies) and the WBF mechanism.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Theory of In-Cloud Activation of Aerosols and Microphysical Quasi-Equilibrium in a Deep Updraft

The microphysical quasi-equilibrium in an ascending adiabatic parcel is elucidated by an analytical theory in 0D with drastic simplifications. The theory predicts how in-cloud activation is most likely to be triggered by the onset of precipitation during sufficient ascent, with the ascent only needing to approach almost twice the cloud-base updraft speed aloft. The precipitation and cloud condensate mass fields are coupled in a closed system in a simplified version of the model. The initial state of no precipitation is unstable with respect to a perturbation. In the 2D phase space of both mass fields, there is a neutral line. Unstable growth of precipitation mass drives the system to cross the line into a regime of stability. An attractor is then approached consisting of precipitation mass balanced by accretion of cloud mass and fallout. The cloud-particle number concentration also approaches a stable equilibrium governed by the balance between in-cloud activation aloft from the inexorably increasing supersaturation during vertical acceleration and accretion of cloud droplets by precipitation. Dimensionless numbers characterizing the microphysical equilibria and their stability are derived mathematically, including a condensation–precipitation efficiency and an in-cloud activation efficiency. The theory explains common observations of the orders of magnitude of liquid water content in convective and stratiform clouds. Finally, sensitivity tests of the numerically integrated theoretical equations are documented with respect to variations in cloud condensation nucleus (CCN) aerosols and updraft speed. In conclusion, it is shown that this theory of in-cloud activation, with an increasing supersaturation during ascent, applies to both ice-only and liquid-only cloud.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Final Report on the Development of an Improved Cloud Microphysical Product for Model and Remote Sensing Evaluation using RACORO Observations

We proposed to analyze data collected during the Routine Aerial Facilities (AAF) Clouds with Low Optical Water Depths (CLOWD) Optical Radiative Observations (RACORO) in order to develop an integrated product of cloud microphysical properties (number concentration of drops in different size bins, total liquid drop concentration integrated over all bin sizes, liquid water content LWC, extinction of liquid clouds bw, effective radius of water drops re, and radar reflectivity factor) that could be used to evaluate large-eddy simulations (LES), general circulation models (GCMs) and ground-based remote sensing retrievals, and to develop cloud parameterizations with the end goal of improving the modeling of cloud processes and properties and their impact on atmospheric radiation. We have completed the development of this microphysical database and have submitted it to ARM for consideration of its inclusion on the ARM database as a PI product. This report describes the development of this database, and also describes research that has been conducted on cloud-aerosol interactions using the data obtained during RACORO. A list of conference proceedings and publications is also included.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2015

Benefits of a 4th Ice Class in the Simulated Radar Reflectivities of Convective Systems Using a Bulk Microphysics Scheme

Numerous cloud microphysical schemes designed for cloud and mesoscale models are currently in use, ranging from simple bulk to multi-moment, multi-class to explicit bin schemes. This study details the benefits of adding a 4th ice class (hail) to an already improved 3-class ice bulk microphysics scheme developed for the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble model based on Rutledge and Hobbs (1983,1984). Besides the addition and modification of several hail processes from Lin et al. (1983), further modifications were made to the 3-ice processes, including allowing greater ice super saturation and mitigating spurious evaporationsublimation in the saturation adjustment scheme, allowing graupelhail to become snow via vapor growth and hail to become graupel via riming, and the inclusion of a rain evaporation correction and vapor diffusivity factor. The improved 3-ice snowgraupel size-mapping schemes were adjusted to be more stable at higher mixing rations and to increase the aggregation effect for snow. A snow density mapping was also added. The new scheme was applied to an intense continental squall line and a weaker, loosely-organized continental case using three different hail intercepts. Peak simulated reflectivities agree well with radar for both the intense and weaker case and were better than earlier 3-ice versions when using a moderate and large intercept for hail, respectively. Simulated reflectivity distributions versus height were also improved versus radar in both cases compared to earlier 3-ice versions. The bin-based rain evaporation correction affected the squall line case more but did not change the overall agreement in reflectivity distributions.

bulk microphysics schemes↗