Numerical Simulation of the Effects of Varying Ice Crystal Nucleation Rates and Aggregation Processes on Orographic Snowfall

Abstract

The Colorado State University cloud model is applied to the simulation of orogrophic cloud snowfall. A model of ice crystal aggregation processes and primary nucleation and secondary ice particle production of crystals is described. Sensitivity experiments demonstrated that aggregation plays an important role in controlling the fields of cloud liquid water content, ice crystal concentrations, and surface precipitation amounts. The sensitivity experiments also support observations that the air mass is often quite clean in upper levels of stable orographic clouds. Introducing a reduction of available nuclei that can be activated by deposition/sorption processes brought concentrations to within observed values. This study clearly emphasizes the need for a great deal more fundamental research in the physics of aggregation processes and primary and secondary nucleation of ice crystals.