Visualization of Entrainment and Mixing Phenomena at Cloud Edges

Authors: Bipin Kumar (Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology), Matt Rehme (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)), Neethi Suresh (Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology), Nihanth Cherukuru (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)), Stanislaw Jaroszynski (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)), Shaomeng Li (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)), Scott Pearse (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)), Tim Scheitlin (National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR))

Abstract: Entrainment and mixing processes occur during the entire life of a cloud. These processes change the droplet size distribution, which determines rain formation and radiative properties. Since it is a microphysical process, it cannot be resolved in large scale weather forecasting models. Small scale simulations such as Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) are required to resolve the smallest scale of these processes. However, it has been a challenge to visualize these processes in a 3D domain as it generates petabytes of data. Visualization plays a vital role in analyzing and understanding these huge data outputs. Here, we present different techniques for 3D visualization of data obtained from DNS carried out at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) to understand cloud microphysical properties more closely.

Multiple tools were used to conduct a visual analysis of this data. Two of these tools are well established and tested technologies: ParaView and VAPOR. The others are emergent technologies created at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and are in the development phase. This data simulation, in addition to exploring DNS as mentioned above, provided an opportunity to test and improve development of several tools and methods.

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