Turbulent entrainment in a shearless mixing layer at the edge of a cloud

etc15 Tracking Number 47

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations which combine the Eulerian description of temperature, vapor content and velocity with a Lagrangian ensemble of cloud water droplets are used to study the turbulent entrainment and subsequent mixing of clear air with a cloudy air filament. The study is conducted in a shearless mixing layer setup which is adjusted to realistic conditions at a cumulus cloud boundary. The magnitude of turbulent velocity fluctuations in- and outside the cloud can be varied independently. We find that the evolution of the cloud water droplet ensemble depends slightly only on the contrast of turbulent velocity fluctuations in- and outside the cloud filament. The buoyancy feedback on the flow via the evaporating droplets causes a transient amplification of all fluctuations before the turbulence eventually decays. We study the evolution of the probability density functions of droplet size as well as of supersaturation, temperature and vorticity at the droplet positions.