Motions of Ice Hydrometeors in the Atmosphere: Numerical Studies and Implications

This book summarizes unique research findings on the hydrodynamic behavior of ice particles (ice crystals, snow, graupel and hailstones) in the atmosphere. The fall behavior of ice hydrometeors determines how and how fast a mixed-phase cloud can grow or dissipate. The book discusses how the authors used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods and numerical simulations to determine these behaviors, and presents these computations along with numerous detailed tables and illustrations of turbulent flow fields. It also examines the implications of the results for the general atmospheric sciences as well as for climate science (since the cloud problem is the source of the greatest uncertainty in model-based climate predictions). As such it allows readers to gain a clear and comprehensive understanding of how particles fall in clouds and offers insights into cloud physics and dynamics and their impact on the climate.