Simulation Study on the Autumn Typhoon Mangkhut (2018) in 10.5 Days over the South China Sea: Microphysical Characteristics and latent heat budget

This paper presents a cloud-resolving simulation of the autumn Super Typhoon Mangkhut (2018) in 10.5 days in the South China Sea using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model Version 4.1 (WRFV4.1). The sensitivity of tropical cyclone (TC) track and intensity to the planetary boundary Layer (PBL) and cloud microphysics (MP) scheme was evaluated. A combination of Quasi-normal Scale Elimination (QNSE) PBL scheme and WRF Single Moment 7‑class (WSM7) MP scheme (QNSE-WSM7) had the best performances. QNSE-WSM7 could reasonably reproduce precipitation amounts, temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of rainfall. Cloud water increased as the TC developed and peaked at the weakening stage. Graupel and hail increased as the TC strengthened and reduced as the TC weakened. Cloud water, rain water, and cloud ice were the least in the development stage. Snow, graupel, and hail bottomed during the weakening stage. Cloud water, rain water, and cloud ice increased as the TC intensified to the mature stage. Cloud ice, graupel, and hail reduced from the mature stage to the weakening stage. The peaks of the hydrometeors corresponded well with the peaks of the vertical velocity. Liquid particles with peaks at the lower troposphere in the cloud wall were closer to the TC center. Conversely, ice particles with peaks at the higher troposphere in the cloud wall were found farther away from the TC center. The dominant cloud microphysical conversion processes were the instantaneous melting of snow, hail, and graupel. The top three latent heat release processes were the condensation of water vapor to form cloud water, condensation of water vapor to form rain, and accretion of rain by cloud ice. The top three latent heat absorption processes were the evaporation of cloud water to form water vapor, accretion of cloud ice by rain, and evaporation of rain to form water vapor. The melting of snow, hail, and graupel was the dominant contributor to the formation of raindrops.