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Combined effects of soil moisture and microphysical perturbations on convective clouds and precipitation for a locally forced case over Central Europe

Baur, Florian ; Keil, Christian; Barthlott, Christian ORCID iD icon 1
1 Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

To study the combined impact of soil moisture and microphysical perturbations on convective clouds and precipitation over Central Europe, an ensemble of five dozen real-world weather prediction forecasts was conducted with the COnsortium for Small-scale MOdeling (COSMO) model at convection-permitting resolution for a case with weak large-scale forcing (6 June 2016). We find a large sensitivity of precipitation, ranging from +10% to − 23% in 12-hr precipitation totals. While the homogeneous soil-moisture bias of ± 25% primarily controls the timing of convection initiation and the amount of surface rainfall, the number of cloud condensation nuclei and width of the cloud droplet size distribution mainly control the number, size, and lifetime of convective clouds. In moisture-limited conditions, mainly positive couplings are acting. Drier soils, cleaner air, and a broader cloud droplet size distribution result in less rainfall. Wetter soils and more polluted conditions lead to fewer, but larger, cloud clusters. Since microphysical process rates depend systematically on the sign of the perturbations, but rainfall does not, there are compensating effects at work that buffer microphysical perturbations directly and impact the cloud condensate amount and the rainfall at the ground.


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Originalveröffentlichung
DOI: 10.1002/qj.4295
Scopus
Zitationen: 4
Web of Science
Zitationen: 4
Dimensions
Zitationen: 6
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Troposphärenforschung (IMKTRO)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 07.2022
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 0035-9009, 1477-870X
KITopen-ID: 1000147700
HGF-Programm 12.11.26 (POF IV, LK 01) Aerosol-Cloud-Climate-Interaction
Erschienen in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
Verlag John Wiley and Sons
Band 148
Heft 746
Seiten 2132-2146
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 02.05.2022
Nachgewiesen in Dimensions
Web of Science
Scopus
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