Model simulations of rainout and washout from a warm stratiform cloud

A one-dimensional, time-dependent cloud model with parameterized microphysics is used to investigate the processes which control the rainout and washout of soluble gases from warm, precipitating stratiform clouds. Calculations are presented simulating the distributions of soluble species within and below the cloud layer and in the precipitating raindrops as a function of time and species' solubility. Our calculations indicate that for species with low solubility, wet removal processes are relatively slow and thus do not significantly affect the species' gas-phase abundance. As a result, the removal of low-solubility species by rainout and washout is controlled by thermodynamic processes with the concentration of the species in cloud and rainwater largely determined by the species' solubility. For highly soluble species on the other hand, dissolution into cloud droplets and removal in rain is quite rapid and the abundance of highly soluble species within and below the cloud falls rapidly as soon as the precipitation begins. Because of this rapid decrease in concentration, we find that for highly soluble species: concentrations in cloud droplets near the cloud base can exceed that of raindrops by factors of 2 to 10; washout can dominate over rainout as a removal mechanism; and that, after an extended period of rainfall, the rate of removal becomes independent of the microphysical properties and rainfall rate of the cloud and is controlled by the rate of transport of material into the precipitating column by horizontal advection. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Duke Scholars

Author William Chameides Earth and Climate Sciences