Model simulations of rainout and washout from a warm stratiform cloud

A one-dimensional, time-dependent cloud model with parameterized microphysics is used to investigate the processes which control the rainout and washout of soluble gases from warm, precipitating stratiform clouds. Calculations are presented simulating the distributions of soluble species within and below the cloud layer and in the precipitating raindrops as a function of time and species' solubility. Calculations indicate that for species with low solubility, wet removal processes are relatively slow and thus do not significantly affect the species' gas-phase abundance. As a result, the removal of low-solubility species by rainout and washout is controlled by thermodynamic processes with the concentration of the species in cloud and rainwater largely determined by the species' solubility. For highly soluble species on the other hand, dissolution into cloud droplets and removal in rain is quite rapid and the abundance of highly soluble species within and below the cloud falls rapidly as soon as the precipitation begins.