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An improved representation of the raindrop size distribution for single‐moment microphysics schemes
Author(s) -
Abel S. J.,
Boutle I. A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.1949
Subject(s) - parametrization (atmospheric modeling) , drizzle , environmental science , precipitation , meteorology , cloud physics , atmospheric sciences , moment (physics) , distribution (mathematics) , climatology , cloud computing , mathematics , physics , computer science , geology , classical mechanics , quantum mechanics , radiative transfer , operating system , mathematical analysis
We analyse observations of the size distribution of raindrops from a variety of cloud types and precipitation rates. The measurements show a transition from large raindrops observed in convective showers and frontal rainbands to higher concentrations of much smaller drizzle drops observed in stratocumulus clouds. The observations are used to develop an improved parametrization of the raindrop size distribution that better captures the observed transition for use in single‐moment microphysics schemes. Sensitivity tests are performed in both climate and numerical weather prediction versions of the Met Office Unified Model to demonstrate that the new parametrization leads to improvements in various precipitation and cloud‐related metrics. Copyright © 2012 British Crown copyright, the Met Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.