Physical Processes Controlling PMC Cloud Formation

Details Physical Processes Controlling PMC Cloud Formation Physical Processes Controlling PMC Cloud Formation

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufmsa33c..02j&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #SA33C-02

Physics

0305 Aerosols And Particles (0345, 4801, 4906), 0320 Cloud Physics And Chemistry, 0340 Middle Atmosphere: Composition And Chemistry

Scientific paper

Our understanding of Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC) environment and physical properties has been advanced by multiple recent developments. The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite is providing unprecedented information about water vapor concentrations in the mesopause region, as well as information about PMC particle sizes and mass. Recent two- and three-dimensional simulations of meteor smoke indicate that the concentration of particles large enough to act as ice nuclei in the summer mesopause region is far lower than previous PMC modeling studies have assumed. Lidar measurements have indicated that gravity waves may have a significant effect on PMCs at lower latitudes where the mesopause is relatively warm, whereas at the South Pole, where the mesopause is very cold, gravity waves have no discernable effect. We will describe a microphysical model that tracks the nucleation, growth, transport, and sedimentation of thousands of individual ice crystals to represent the PMCs. Background temperature and water vapor fields are extraced from a global three-dimensional model that includes a bin microphysics representation of PMCs. We will address the following science questions: With the reduced concentration of meteor smoke particles in the summer mesopause region, is heterogeneous nucleation on these particles still a plausible candidate for the source of PMC ice crystals? Are gravity-wave temperature perturbations required for nucleation of sufficient ice concentrations? How sensitive are PMC properties (at about 82-84 km) to the concentration of ice crystals nucleated near the mesopause (at about 88-90 km)? How broad are the simulated PMC ice crystal size distributions? How do gravity-wave effects on PMCs depend on the background temperature and water vapor profiles?

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