A microscopic aggregation model of droplet dynamics in warm clouds

A microscopic model of warm clouds involving input of water droplets, dropletdroplet aggregation, droplet breakup, and precipitation is presented. Numerical simulations and analytical arguments indicate that after the stage of growth and just before precipitation sets in, a warm cloud is characterized by a droplet-size distribution which follows from an inverse power law as a function of the droplet size. When precipitation is taken into account, the above distribution is transformed into a distribution decaying exponentially with the droplet size, in agreement with field observations. It is suggested that the initiation of rainfall in a precipitating warm cloud can be viewed as an instability triggered by the presence of a power-law distribution.