Toward the mitigation of spurious cloud-edge supersaturation in cloud models

This paper presents a straightforward approach to mitigate the problem of spurious cloud-edge supersaturation in high-spatial-resolution cloud models (e.g., moist large-eddy simulation models). The central idea, following a 1989 J. Atmos. Sci. paper by Grabowski, is that supersaturation predicted by the supersaturation equation should be used to adjust the temperature and moisture solutions, rather than the other way around as in the standard approach in cloud modeling, where the temperature and moisture solutions are used to diagnose the supersaturation. Details of the adjustment scheme are discussed and illustrated through simple one-dimensional tests applying a two-moment warm-rain microphysics scheme that predicts the in-cloud supersaturation. Extension of this approach to bin microphysics models is also outlined.

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Copyright 2008 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work.
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Author Grabowski, Wojciech
Morrison, Hugh
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2008-03-01T00:00:00
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Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2025-07-17T15:59:26.253500
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:6523
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Grabowski, Wojciech, Morrison, Hugh. (2008). Toward the mitigation of spurious cloud-edge supersaturation in cloud models. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7k35tvg. Accessed 09 August 2025.

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