Sensitivity of Orographic Precipitation to Changing Ambient Conditions and Terrain Geometries: An Idealized Modeling Perspective

This paper utilizes the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU-NCAR) mesoscale model (MM5) in a two-dimensional (2D) configuration at 4-km horizontal grid spacing in order to better understand the relationship between orographic precipitation and the height and width of a barrier, as well as the ambient flow, uniform moist static stability, and freezing level. The focus is on how these parameters affect the orographic precipitation by changing the circulation and microphysical structures over the barrier.