Simulation of a Mesoscale Convective System Using a New Formulation for Advection in a Bin Microphysics: Sensitivity to Advection, Microphysics, and Grid Spacing

A computationally efficient semi-Lagrangian advection (SLA) scheme designed for microphysical variable advection was implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model with spectral bin microphysics (SBM). The primary goal was to reduce the CPU time for advection of the scalar SBM variables and demonstrate its applicability to simulation of a real-data case study in the eta vertical coordinate system. A mesoscale convective system (MCS) in Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E-0520) was selected for simulations. We compared the SLA and high-order, nonlinear monotonic advection schemes and tested the sensitivity of the simulated radar reflectivity, microphysical, and dynamic properties of the MCS to the choice of microphysical schemes, aerosol concentration, and grid spacing. Simulations using the SLA and monotonic advection schemes were similar, and the differences between them were much smaller than those between the SBM and bulk microphysical schemes tested. Improvement of the grid resolution had a larger impact on the vertical velocity field than did the choice of aerosol concentration. The total computational time in simulations with SLA was about 25% shorter than that with monotonic advection, which resulted from a reduction of more than 50% in computational time required for advection of the microphysical variables.