PNNL

Abstract

Abstract Two isolated deep convective clouds (DCCs) that developed in clean-humid and polluted-dry air masses, observed during the TWP-ICE and ACTIVE campaigns, are simulated using a 3-dimensional cloud-resolving model with size-resolved aerosol and cloud microphysics. We examine the impacts of different homogeneous and immersion freezing parameterizations on the anvil characteristics and the water vapor content (WVC) in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) for the two DCCs that developed in contrasting environments. The modeled cloud properties such as liquid/ice water path and precipitation generally agree with the available radar and satellite retrievals and in situ aircraft measurements. We find that anvil size and anvil microphysical properties such as ice number concentration and ice effective radius (rei) are much more sensitive to the homogeneous freezing parameterization (HomFP) under the polluted-dry condition, while the strength of anvil convection is more sensitive to HomFP under the clean-humid condition. Specifically, the cloud anvil with the Koop et al. (2000) (KOOP) relative humidity dependent scheme has up to 2 and 4 times lower ice number than those with other schemes (temperature dependent) for the clean humid and polluted-dry cases, respectively. Consequently, the rei is increased in both cases, with a larger increase in the polluted-dry case. As a result, extinction coefficient of cloud anvils is reduced by over 25% for the polluted-dry case. Anvil size and evolution are also much affected by HomFPs in the polluted-dry case. Higher immersion-freezing rates leads to a stronger convective cloud, with higher precipitation and ice water path under both humid and dry conditions. As a result, homogeneous freezing rates are enhanced by over 20%. Also, the higher immersion-freezing rate results in stronger convection in cloud anvils, much larger anvil size (up to 3 times) and longer lifetime. The moistening effect of deep convection on the WVC in the TTL is very significant with a increase of more than 2 times. Homogeneous freezing parameterizations do not significantly change the WVC in the TTL, but higher immersion freezing rate leads to an increase in TTL WVC by enhancing convection.