Impact of hygroscopic seeding on the initiation of precipitation formation: results of a hybrid bin microphysics parcel model

Abstract. A hybrid bin microphysical scheme is developed in a parcel model framework to study how natural aerosol particles and different types of hygroscopic seeding materials affect the precipitation formation. A novel parameter is introduced to describe the impact of different seeding particles on the evolution of the drop size distribution. The results of more than 100 numerical experiments using the hybrid bin parcel model show that: (a) The Ostwald-ripening effect has a substantial contribution to the broadening of the drop size distribution near the cloud base. The efficiency of this effect increases as the updraft velocity decreases. (b) The efficiency of hygroscopic seeding is significant only if the size of the seeding particles is in the coarse particle size range. The presence of the water-soluble background coarse particles reduces the efficiency of the seeding. (c) The efficient broadening of the size distribution due to the seeding depends on the width of the size distribution of water drops in the control cases, but the relation is not as straightforward as in the case of the glaciogenic seeding.