Numerical Simulation of Precipitation Enhancement in Stratiform Cloud

Stratiform clouds associated with synoptic disturbance are the important source of precipitation in northern China. They are also the objects of precipitation enhancement experiments. Observation of You (1980) showed that the ice concentrations in these clouds usually are very high and the supercooled water contents are low. According to the closed model of ice-water conversion, the potential of precipitation enhancement by cloud seeding is limited. However, the experiments of Leskov (1973) in USSR showed significant value of precipitation enhancement, which was much larger than the sum of supercooled water in cloud at the given moment. Evaluation of the precipitation enhancement potential in stratiform clouds remains a crucial problem in the design of a cloud seeding experiment. The potential of rain enhancement from warm stratiform clouds by salt seeding is also an interesting and important subject.