A microscopic aggregation model of droplet dynamics in warm clouds |
| |
Authors: | A. Provata C. Nicolis |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Faculté des Sciences and Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium;(2) Institut Royal Météorologique de Belgique, 1180 Bruxelles, Belgium |
| |
Abstract: | 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. |
| |
Keywords: | Aggregation cloud microphysics power-law distributions random walk |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|