Articles | Volume 22, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10221-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10221-2022
Research article
 | 
10 Aug 2022
Research article |  | 10 Aug 2022

Sensitivity analysis of an aerosol-aware microphysics scheme in Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) during case studies of fog in Namibia

Michael John Weston, Stuart John Piketh, Frédéric Burnet, Stephen Broccardo, Cyrielle Denjean, Thierry Bourrianne, and Paola Formenti

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Cited articles

Ajjaji, R., Al-Katheri, A. A., and Al-Katheri, A. A.: Evaluation of United Arab Emirates WRF two-way nested model on a set of thick coastal fog situations, 8th WRF Users' Workshop. Boulder, Colorado, USA, June 2008, 2008. 
Andersen, H. and Cermak, J.: First fully diurnal fog and low cloud satellite detection reveals life cycle in the Namib, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5461–5470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5461-2018, 2018. 
Andersen, H., Cermak, J., Solodovnik, I., Lelli, L., and Vogt, R.: Spatiotemporal dynamics of fog and low clouds in the Namib unveiled with ground- and space-based observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4383–4392, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4383-2019, 2019. 
Andersen, H., Cermak, J., Fuchs, J., Knippertz, P., Gaetani, M., Quinting, J., Sippel, S., and Vogt, R.: Synoptic-scale controls of fog and low-cloud variability in the Namib Desert, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3415–3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3415-2020, 2020. 
Bergot, T. and Lestringant, R.: On the predictability of radiation fog formation in a mesoscale model: A case study in heterogeneous terrain, Atmosphere, 10, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10040165, 2019. 
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Short summary
An aerosol-aware microphysics scheme is evaluated for fog cases in Namibia. AEROCLO-sA campaign observations are used to access and parameterise the model. The model cloud condensation nuclei activation is lower than the observations. The scheme is designed for clouds with updrafts, while fog typically forms in stable conditions. A pseudo updraft speed assigned to the lowest model levels helps achieve more realistic cloud droplet number concentration and size distribution in the model.
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