Warm Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in Complex Terrain

A 3D LES model with detailed cloud and precipitation microphysics is used to investigate the impact of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions (ACPI) in the diurnal cycle of clouds, including low level clouds and fog, and precipitation across scales with a focus on impacts on the surface energy budget and the climate near the ground. The model is built upon CM1 (G. H. Bryan and J. M. Fritsch 2002) by replacing bulk parameterization with detailed bin microphysics (Duan et al. 2019; Prat and Barros 2007) and introducing a land-surface model. Here we present the first results of the real case simulation of low level orographic cumulus clouds in the inner southern Appalachian Mountains with evaluation against observations during the Integrated Precipitation and Hydrology Experiment in 2014 (IPHEx). The effects of terrain, land surface, and mesoscale forcing in the representation of clouds and rainfall processes are discussed in the context of capturing the observed dynamic evolution of clouds and precipitation.