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BUILDING A BETTER VIRTUAL RAINDROP
01 May 2007 - DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory
| A new way of mathematically modeling the formation of rain drops in clouds may improve our understanding of Earth’s climate, cloud formation and movement, and the effect that small airborne particles have on rainfall. |
A new way of mathematically modeling the formation of rain drops in clouds may improve our understanding of Earth’s climate, cloud formation and movement, and the effect that small airborne particles have on rainfall. In a paper published online by Geophysical Research Letter, atmospheric physicist Yangang Liu and atmospheric chemists Peter Daum and Robert McGraw of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory present a new model, which, they say, helps to overcome some of the shortfalls of previous approaches. In the first step in the formation of raindrops, small cloud droplets combine to form larger drops in a process known as autoconversion. The mathematical representation of this process is used in simulating cloud activity and global climate patterns. But according to the Brookhaven team, the model used previously has been oversimplified and vague because some of the terms in the equation lacked a physical basis. To address this problem, Liu and his colleagues developed a new model for autoconversion that takes into account the limited size range of droplets that interact to create raindrops. The new model also accounts for the amount of liquid water present and the concentration of droplets in a cloud. The authors assert that their model avoids guesswork by being more grounded in physics and is as easy to use as other models.
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Established in 1947 on Long Island, Upton, New York, Brookhaven is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the US Department of Energy (DOE). Six Nobel Prizes have been awarded for discoveries made at the Lab. Brookhaven has a staff of approximately 3,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff and over 4,000 guest researchers annually. Brookhaven National Laboratory's role for the DOE is to produce excellent science and advanced technology with the cooperation, support, and appropriate involvement of our scientific and local communities. The fundamental elements of the Laboratory's role in support of the four DOE strategic missions are the following: To conceive, design, construct, and operate complex, leading edge, user-oriented facilities in response to the needs of the DOE and the international community of users. To carry out basic and applied research in long-term, high-risk programs at the frontier of science. To develop advanced technologies that address national needs and to transfer them to other organizations and to the commercial sector. To disseminate technical knowledge, to educate new generations of scientists and engineers, to maintain technical capabilities in the nation's workforce, and to encourage scientific awareness in the general public.
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