Cloud and precipitation physics and parameterization perspective

Cloud and precipitation physics is a very broad field encompassing cloud dynamics, cloud microphysics, cloud optics, cloud electrification, cloud chemistry, and the interaction of cloud and precipitation particles with electromagnetic radiation (i.e. radar). The focus of this book is on a very specific aspect of cloud and precipitation physics: the development of various parameterizations of cloud and precipitation microphysical processes; and when possible the exploration of the basic theories necessary for their development. In numerical models, based on theory and observations, microphysical parameterizations are a means to represent sub-grid-scale microphysical processes using grid-scale information. Some of the parameterizations are quite complex, whilst others are quite simple. In the realm of the design of parameterizations of cloud and precipitation microphysics, complex schemes do not always provide more accurate results than simple schemes. The parameterizations of cloud and precipitation microphysical processes are essential components to numerical weather prediction and research models on all scales, including the cloud scale, mesoscale, synoptic scale, global, and climate scale. In particular, the accuracy of quantitative precipitation forecasts, as well as the representation of atmospheric and terrestrial radiation physical processes, depend significantly on the type of cloud and precipitation microphysics parameterizations used. More recently cloud models also have been used to simulate lightning, which depends on an accurate account of microphysical processes, hydrometeor amounts and locations.