Abstract

This study examines the sensitivity of squall line structure to various microphysical schemes. The WRF simulations of an idealized two-dimensional squall line were performed at 1-km horizontal resolution using the Weisman et al. (1988) idealized squall line sounding and a retrospective sounding f... Show moreThis study examines the sensitivity of squall line structure to various microphysical schemes. The WRF simulations of an idealized two-dimensional squall line were performed at 1-km horizontal resolution using the Weisman et al. (1988) idealized squall line sounding and a retrospective sounding from a squall line case observed on 12 June 2002 during the IHOP (International H20 Program) field program. Previous studies have shown sensitivity of squall line dynamics to microphysics parameterization (e.g., Yang et al. 1995). A unique aspect of this study is the inclusion of the detailed microphysics schemes of Geresdi et al. (2005) in addition to three more conventional mixed-phase bulk microphysics schemes [Lin, Farley, and Orville (1983); WSM 6-class (Hong et al. 2004); and Thompson et al. (2004)] that are commonly used in the WRF model. A brief description of the model configuration is given in section 2. Section 3 presents the simulation results. A summary and concluding remarks are given in section 4. Show less