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A numerical study of radiation fog with an explicit formulation of the microphysics
Author(s) -
Brown R.
Publication year - 1980
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.49710645010
Subject(s) - drop (telecommunication) , radiative transfer , environmental science , turbulence , mechanics , radiation , condensation , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , liquid water content , physics , thermodynamics , optics , computer science , cloud computing , telecommunications , operating system
A model of radiation fog is described containing an explicit formulation of the microphysics of the condensation process. The coupling between the radiative and microphysical processes within the model means that apart from the specification of the turbulence and CCN spectrum it is deterministic. Results are presented which indicated that:(i) The drop‐size distribution is sensitive to the CCN concentration but not to the presence of large CCN. (ii) Radiative loss from the drops can have a significant effect upon their growth. (iii) The drop‐size distribution is very sensitive to reductions in the condensation coefficient to a value below 0.033.Differences between observed and model drop‐size distributions are attributed to an underestimate in the model of the level of mixing within a mature fog.