An investigation of ice production mechanisms in small cumuliform clouds using a 3D model with explicit microphysics. Part I : Model description

A new cloud model that combines a three-dimensional nonhydrostatic dynamical framework with explicit liquid- and ice-phase microphysics and a detailed treatment of ice nucleation and multiplication processes is presented. The use of 28 size bins to describe each cloud drop and ice particle spectra allows the authors to account for all major microphysical processes.