Microphysics 0M

The Microphysics0M.jl module defines a 0-moment bulk parameterization of the moisture sink due to precipitation. It offers a simplified way of removing the excess water without assuming anything about the size distributions of cloud or precipitation particles.

The $q_{tot}$ (total water specific humidity) sink due to precipitation is obtained by relaxation with a constant timescale to a state with condensate exceeding a threshold value removed. The threshold for removing excess $q_{tot}$ is defined either by the condensate specific humidity or supersaturation. The thresholds and the relaxation timescale are defined in ClimaParams.jl.

Moisture sink due to precipitation

If based on maximum condensate specific humidity, the sink is defined as:

\[\begin{equation} \left. \frac{d \, q_{tot}}{dt} \right|_{precip} =- \frac{max(0, q_{liq} + q_{ice} - q_{c0})}{\tau_{precip}} \end{equation}\]

where:

• $q_{liq}$, $q_{ice}$ are cloud liquid water and cloud ice specific humidities,
• $q_{c0}$ is the condensate specific humidity threshold above which water is removed,
• $\tau_{precip}$ is the relaxation timescale.

If based on saturation excess, the sink is defined as:

\[\begin{equation} \left. \frac{d \, q_{tot}}{dt} \right|_{precip} =- \frac{max(0, q_{liq} + q_{ice} - S_{0} \, q_{vap}^{sat})}{\tau_{precip}} \end{equation}\]

where:

• $q_{liq}$, $q_{ice}$ are cloud liquid water and cloud ice specific humidities,
• $S_{0}$ is the supersaturation threshold above which water is removed,
• $q_{vap}^{sat}$ is the saturation specific humidity,
• $\tau_{precip}$ is the relaxation timescale.