On the relationship of polar mesospheric cloud ice water content, particle radius and mesospheric temperature and its use in multi-dimensional models

To investigate this coupling it is necessary to simulate the global distribution of PMCs within a 3-dimensional (3-D) model that couples large-scale dynamics with cloud microphysics. However, modeling PMC microphysics within 3-D global chemistry climate models (GCCM) is a challenge due to the high computational cost associated with particle following (Lagrangian) or sectional microphysical calculations.

By characterizing the relationship between the PMC effective radius, ice water content (iwc), and local temperature (T) from an ensemble of simulations from the sectional microphysical model, the Community Aerosol and Radiation Model for Atmospheres (CARMA), we determined that these variables can be described by a robust empirical formula. The characterized relationship allows an estimate of an altitude distribution of PMC effective radius in terms of local temperature and iwc.