Articles | Volume 19, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-639-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-639-2019
Research article
 | 
17 Jan 2019
Research article |  | 17 Jan 2019

Cloud-droplet growth due to supersaturation fluctuations in stratiform clouds

Xiang-Yu Li, Gunilla Svensson, Axel Brandenburg, and Nils E. L. Haugen

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Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
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Cited articles

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Brandenburg, A.: Pencil Code, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2315093, 2018. a, b
Brenguier, J.-L., Bourrianne, T., Coelho, A. A., Isbert, J., Peytavi, R., Trevarin, D., and Weschler, P.: Improvements of droplet size distribution measurements with the Fast-FSSP (Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe), J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 15, 1077–1090, 1998. a, b
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The broadening of droplet size distributions in stratiform clouds, where the updraft velocity is almost zero, is puzzling. Without turbulence, the classical treatment of condensational growth of cloud droplets fails to explain this broadening. We investigated the time evolution of droplet size distributions using direct numerical simulations, where turbulence is resolved into the smallest scales. We found that the broadening is due to the turbulence-facilitated supersaturation fluctuations.
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