Predicting Frigid Mixed‐Phase Clouds for Pristine Coastal Antarctica

Hines, Keith H.; Bromwich, David H.; Silber, Israel; Russell, Lynn M.; Bai, Long

doi:10.1029/2021jd035112

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 98 publications

(200 reference statements)

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“…7b), when regions of supercooled water appear at a higher level. Hines et al (2021) reported difficulties in WRF cloud microphysics parameterizations representing the supercooled water at temperatures below -20 °C. In the discussed subcase, the supercooled water may definitely be present in the model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measured and modeled vertical structure of precipitation during mixed-phase event near the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

Pishniak¹,

Razumnyi²

2022

UAJ

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Precipitation structures are easy to detect, however, the mesoscale atmospheric processes which they reflect are challenging to understand in Polar Regions and hard to model numerically. Currently, the spatial distribution of precipitation can be tracked at the resolution of minutes and seconds. For this purpose, the researchers at the Ukrainian Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station employ several near-ground measurement systems and the Micro Rain Radar for remote vertical measurements. Measurements show stochastic precipitation variability caused by turbulence, precipitation bands related to the atmospheric processes of its formation, phase transition (melting) zones, and wind shears. The time scale of bands in the stratiform precipitation typically varied in the range of 5—15 minutes and corresponded to the 2—15 km spatial scale of atmospheric circulations according to the modeled parameters of the atmosphere. The Polar Weather Research and Forecast (Polar WRF) model was used to reveal the general atmospheric conditions. We also tested and evaluated its ability to reproduce small structures. A simple method based on typical model variables is proposed to identify the precipitation melting layer in the simulation data, similar to that determined by radars. The results were satisfyingly consistent with the position of the 0 °C isotherm in the model and with the radar measurements. In addition, the method highlighted supercooled mixed-phase precipitation. Modeling showed good results for large-scale processes like atmospheric fronts and general air mass features in the case study. However, even at the 1 km resolution the simulation reproduced thin mesoscale precipitation features smoothly, which sometimes looks unrealistic. As for other precipitation peculiarities, like band inclination, melting layer position, and mixed-phase zones, the Polar WRF model demonstrates high consistency with observations. The model can describe the atmospheric conditions except for the investigation of precipitation-initiating mechanisms, which still is a challenge for modeling at a small scale.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measured and modeled vertical structure of precipitation during mixed-phase event near the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

Pishniak¹,

Razumnyi²

2022

UAJ

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“…In addition, considering that WRF tends to have relatively larger bias in the longwave radiation (LW) over the polar region (Hines et al 2019(Hines et al , 2021, we also compared the PB modeled downwelling and upwelling LW with station observation from the World Radiation Monitoring Center-Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). For the study period, the BSRN network has only one station Ny-Ålesund (Maturilli 2018) within the Domain-1.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Wrf-ice Simulation With Station Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concurrence of blowing snow and polynya enhances arctic surface–atmosphere interaction: a modeling study with an extreme wind event in 2018

Zhang

Zhang²,

Walsh³

et al. 2023

Environ. Res.: Climate

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Snow, a critical element influencing surface energy/mass balance of the Arctic, can also drift in the air to complicate the surface-atmosphere interaction. This complexity can be further enhanced when the surface includes polynya. These processes, however, have not been well studied and are often unrepresented in climate and weather models. We address this by applying a snow/ice-enhanced version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-ice) to examine the impacts of blowing snow and polynya on the surface-atmosphere interaction during an extreme Arctic wind event in February 2018, when an unprecedented polynya occurred off the north coast of Greenland. The results indicate that blowing snow and the polynya contribute opposite signs to the changes of surface sensible/latent heat fluxes, but both cause enhanced downwelling longwave radiation. Process analysis shows that the thermodynamic moistening/cooling effects due to the blowing snow sublimation are amplified by increased surface winds, reduced temperature inversion, and upward wind anomaly associated with the polynya. Enhanced surface-atmosphere interaction over a polynya due to blowing snow sublimation can potentially sustain the continuing development of the polynya.

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“…More advanced microphysics schemes provide more realistic cloud liquid water simulations, which is critical for estimation of the surface energy balance (Hines et al, 2019;Listowski et al, 2019). Instead of using an arbitrary categorization of frozen hydrometers, the two-moment Morrison-Milbrandt P3 (P3) adopts a continuum of particle properties for clouds (Hines et al, 2019(Hines et al, , 2021. P3 provides the best estimation of liquid water path and longwave radiation from clouds compared to two other advanced schemes, Morrison two moment and Thompson (Hines et al, 2019).…”

Section: Polar Wrf and Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (Amps)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong Warming Over the Antarctic Peninsula During Combined Atmospheric River and Foehn Events: Contribution of Shortwave Radiation and Turbulence

et al. 2023

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The Antarctica Peninsula (AP) has experienced more frequent and intense surface melting recently, jeopardizing the stability of ice shelves and ultimately leading to ice loss. Among the key phenomena that can initiate surface melting are atmospheric rivers (ARs) and leeside foehn; the combined impact of ARs and foehn led to moderate surface warming over the AP in December 2018 and record‐breaking surface melting in February 2022. Focusing on the more intense 2022 case, this study uses high‐resolution Polar WRF simulations with advanced model configurations, Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica topography, and observed surface albedo to better understand the relationship between ARs and foehn and their impacts on surface warming. With an intense AR (AR3) intrusion during the 2022 event, weak low‐level blocking and heavy orographic precipitation on the upwind side resulted in latent heat release, which led to a more deep‐foehn like case. On the leeside, sensible heat flux associated with the foehn magnitude was the major driver during the night and the secondary contributor during the day due to a stationary orographic gravity wave. Downward shortwave radiation was enhanced via cloud clearance and dominated surface melting during the daytime, especially after the peak of the AR/foehn events. However, due to the complex terrain of the AP, ARs can complicate the foehn event by transporting extra moisture to the leeside via gap flows. During the peak of the 2022 foehn warming, cloud formation on the leeside hampered the downward shortwave radiation and slightly increased the downward longwave radiation.

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Predicting Frigid Mixed‐Phase Clouds for Pristine Coastal Antarctica

Cited by 7 publications

References 98 publications

Measured and modeled vertical structure of precipitation during mixed-phase event near the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

Measured and modeled vertical structure of precipitation during mixed-phase event near the West Coast of the Antarctic Peninsula

Concurrence of blowing snow and polynya enhances arctic surface–atmosphere interaction: a modeling study with an extreme wind event in 2018

Strong Warming Over the Antarctic Peninsula During Combined Atmospheric River and Foehn Events: Contribution of Shortwave Radiation and Turbulence

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