The vertical evolution of microphysics in trade-wind cumuli (Cu) observed from the NCAR C-130 research aircraft during one flight of the RICO (Rain in Cumulus Over the Ocean) study is analyzed. Conditional sampling of > 200 Cu traversed on this flight is used to chose Cu for which the aircraft penetrated single and growing Cu turrets about 250-m below cloud top where maximum LWC is often found and where radar has often observed initial stages of precipitation. The vertical evolution of the sampled set of Cu was assumed to follow Lagrangian behavior. The entrainment rate, entrained parcel scales, mixing mechanisms, and effects on the droplet size distribution are measured and evaluated. A parcel model is applied over the 1100-m maximum Cu height of the traverses to determine the relationship between the observed large number of small droplets and the fewer ultra-giant sea-salt nuclei (UGN) in order to assess the role of these nuclei in evolving the size spectrum and in causing a growing “drizzle tail”. New insight on these topics is obtained by using the PVM (Particle Volume Monitor) probe to measure incloud microphysics with 10-cm resolution.
The results include the following: Entrainment causes primarily dilution of the drops without significant size changes, thus either extreme inhomogeneous mixing or more likely homogeneous mixing resulting from mixing with cool and humid entrained air take place. The entrained parcels are surprisingly small following lognormal behavior and decaying rapidly upon entering the Cu, as a result super-adiabatic drops are not evident. The entrained parcels are consistent with the Bragg-scattering “mantle echo” often observed by radar in small Cu. The FSSP (Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe) droplet spectra are nearly constant with height. These “self-preserving” spectra are a result of an approximate balance between dilution by entrainment of droplets originating at cloud base, droplet activation on entrained CCN (cloud condensation nuclei), and detrainment and coalescence losses. Sea-salt nuclei follow Woodcock’s wind dependence, and are shown with the parcel model to play an important role in forming the observed drizzle that increases with cloud height. Accretion is the dominant coalescence mechanism near cloud top in these Cu.