CliMA / CliMA/CloudMicrophysics.jl

Aerosol activation has numerical instabilities

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Aerosol Activation :bulb:
Dominant language
Julia
Stars
55
Forks
11
Avg merge
1d 5h
Merged PRs (30d)
8

Description

The ARG parameterization (`max_supersaturation`) is numerically unstable for certain atmospheric conditions.

For example:
* [Line 167](https://github.com/CliMA/CloudMicrophysics.jl/blob/6385546b3ba6f4e69f857c3a6e7b0f47e89ae6d4/src/AerosolActivation.jl#L167): `sqrt(α * w / G) `- when `α * w / G` becomes negative
* [Line 180](https://github.com/CliMA/CloudMicrophysics.jl/blob/6385546b3ba6f4e69f857c3a6e7b0f47e89ae6d4/src/AerosolActivation.jl#L182): `(ζ / η)^ap.p1` - when intermediate values become -Inf

These (and other issues) need numerical guardrails and tests.

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start in src/AerosolActivation.jl at the max_supersaturation implementation, especially lines 167 and 180. Examine how negative α * w / G and -Inf intermediate values arise under the atmospheric conditions described. Add numerical guardrails and tests covering these failure cases, then verify the aerosol activation behavior remains stable.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
julia
Domain
backend
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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