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Cs. Palotai, T. Dowling (CPL/U. Louisville)
We present a progress report on the cloud microphysics scheme under development for the hybrid-coordinate EPIC model, with a focus on gas-giant applications. In addition to the existing vapor, liquid cloud, and ice cloud phases and their interactions we now include precipitating phases (snow and rain), which gives the model a complete hydrological cycle. For parameters that lack strong observational constraints, for example the mean diameters for cloud particles and precipitation on Jupiter, we are attempting to systematically rate their importance via sensitivity tests. Other improvements in the source code include an extension of the species_variable data structure to contain species-specific thermodynamic and microphysical constants and functions such as triple point temperature and pressure, saturation vapor pressure, enthaply change, rain and snow densities, and parameters and threshold values for various microphysical processes. We are currently testing the behavior of the model in 1D and 2D cases, which facilitates comparison to previous work. Of interest are the comparison of dry vs. wet simulations, the position and thickness of model water and ammonia clouds, and the direction of vertical motion relative to the zonal-wind (or belt-zone) structure. For 3D simulations, two goals are to simulate the highly energetic convective water clouds observed northwest of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the characteristic filamentary morphology of ammonia clouds in Jupiter's cyclonic regions. Details of the microphysics scheme and latest results of the pilot runs will be presented.
This research is funded by NASA's Planetary Atmospheres and EPSCoR Programs.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: csaba.palotai@louisville.edu
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #4
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.