|
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 9, 10549-10574, 2009
www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/10549/2009/ doi:10.5194/acpd-9-10549-2009 © Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
Analytical treatment of ice sublimation and test of sublimation parameterisations in two-moment ice microphysics models
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Abstract. We derive an analytic solution to the spectral growth/sublimation equation for ice crystals and apply it to idealised cases. The results are used to test parameterisations of the ice sublimation process in two-moment bulk microphysics models. Although it turns out that the relation between number loss fraction and mass loss fraction is not a function since it is not unique, it seems that a functional parameterisation is the best that one can do in a bulk model. Testing a more realistic case with humidity oscillations shows that artificial crystal loss can occur in simulations of mature cirrus clouds with relative humidity fluctuating about ice saturation.
Citation: Gierens, K. and Bretl, S.: Analytical treatment of ice sublimation and test of sublimation parameterisations in two-moment ice microphysics models, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 9, 10549-10574, doi:10.5194/acpd-9-10549-2009, 2009.