Impact of different microphysical processes of WRF model on precipitation phase forecasting in Northeast China

In order to study the impact of different microphysical processes of WRF model on precipitation phase forecasting, 11 precipitation processes with precipitation phase change in the Northeast China from 2006 to 2008 were simulated based on WRF V3.1 and NCEP reanalysis data. Studies were carried out by three microphysical schemes, i.e. a WSM 6 scheme, a Goddard scheme and a New Thompson scheme. According to analysis of precipitation phase and cloud microphysical characteristics, forecast differences existed in the different schemes were obtained. The results show that effects of different microphysical schemes on precipitation falling area and precipitation intensity are not significant, while precipitation phase is sensitive to microphysical schemes, especially for forecasting of falling area of rain and sleet. The Goddard scheme is the best among all schemes according to results of overall forecast. The simulated cloud microphysical features of atmosphere in the bottom layer have singinficant differences among three schemes, which lead directly to the difference of precipitation phase forecast.