Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 10 4 2010 10.5194/acpd-10-10487-2010 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/10487/2010/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/10487/2010/acpd-10-10487-2010.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/10/10487/2010/acpd-10-10487-2010.pdf 10487 10550 2010-04-21 Intercomparison of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in stratiform orographic mixed-phase clouds A. Muhlbauer andreasm@atmos.washington.edu T. Hashino L. Xue A. Teller U. Lohmann R. M. Rasmussen I. Geresdi Z. Pan Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO) and Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA Research Applications Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Bolder, Colorado, USA Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Pecs, Pecs, Hungary Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA now at: The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus Anthropogenic aerosols serve as a source of both cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) and affect microphysical properties of clouds. Increasing aerosol number concentrations is hypothesized to retard the cloud droplet collision/coalescence and the riming in mixed-phase clouds, thereby decreasing orographic precipitation. <br><br> This study presents results from a model intercomparison of 2-D simulations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions in stratiform orographic mixed-phase clouds. The sensitivity of orographic precipitation to changes in the aerosol number concentrations is analyzed and compared for various dynamical and thermodynamical situations. Furthermore, the sensitivities of microphysical processes such as collision/coalescence, aggregation and riming to changes in the aerosol number concentrations are evaluated and compared. <br><br> The participating models are the Consortium for Small-Scale Modeling's (COSMO) model with bulk-microphysics, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with bin-microphysics and the University of Wisconsin modeling system (UWNMS) with a spectral ice-habit prediction microphysics scheme. All models are operated on a cloud-resolving scale with 2 km horizontal grid spacing. <br><br> The results of the model intercomparison suggest that the sensitivity of orographic precipitation to aerosol modifications varies greatly from case to case and from model to model. Neither a precipitation decrease nor a precipitation increase is found robustly in all simulations. Qualitative robust results can only be found for a subset of the simulations but even then quantitative agreement is scarce. Estimates of the second indirect aerosol effect on orographic precipitation are found to range from –19% to 0% depending on the simulated case and the model. <br><br> Similarly, riming is shown to decrease in some cases and models whereas it increases in others which implies that a decrease in riming with increasing aerosol load is not a robust result. Furthermore, it is found that neither a decrease in cloud droplet coalescence nor a decrease in riming necessarily implies a decrease in precipitation due to compensation effects by other microphysical pathways. <br><br> The simulations suggest that mixed-phase conditions play an important role in reducing the overall susceptibility of clouds and precipitation with respect to changes in the aerosols number concentrations. 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