Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?

TL;DR

This paper develops a statistical model to evaluate the impact of small-scale turbulence on ice formation in mixed-phase clouds, finding it has limited effect on glaciation time at small scales but potentially significant at larger scales.

Contribution

It introduces a new statistical model that captures small-scale turbulence effects and assesses their influence on ice growth in clouds, advancing understanding of cloud microphysics.

Findings

Small-scale turbulence slightly broadens droplet-size distribution.

It does not significantly influence glaciation time at submetre scales.

Larger-scale turbulence may play a more important role in ice growth.

Abstract

Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because cloud dynamics and microphysics are not accurately represented. As turbulence is essential for the transport of water vapour from evaporating liquid droplets to ice crystals, we developed a statistical model using established closures to assess the role of small-scale turbulence. The model successfully captures results of direct numerical simulations, and we use it to assess the role of small-scale turbulence. We find that small-scale turbulence broadens the droplet-size distribution somewhat, but it does not significantly affect the glaciation time on submetre scales. However, our analysis indicates that turbulence on larger spatial scales is likely to affect ice growth. While the model must be amended to describe larger scales, the present work facilitates a path forward to understanding the role of turbulence in the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process.