Articles | Volume 15, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11713-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11713-2015
© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Oct 2015
Research article |
| 22 Oct 2015
High ice water content at low radar reflectivity near deep convection – Part 1: Consistency of in situ and remote-sensing observations with stratiform rain column simulations
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA
A. S. Ackerman
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10027, USA
A. Grandin
Airbus Operations S.A.S., 316 route de Bayonne, 31060 Toulouse CEDEX 03, France
F. Dezitter
Airbus Operations S.A.S., 316 route de Bayonne, 31060 Toulouse CEDEX 03, France
M. Weber
Airbus Operations S.A.S., 316 route de Bayonne, 31060 Toulouse CEDEX 03, France
J. W. Strapp
Met Analytics Inc., Aurora, Ontario, Canada
A. V. Korolev
Cloud Physics and Severe Weather Research Section, Environment Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
C. R. Williams
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, and NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA
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Ann M. Fridlind, Xiaowen Li, Di Wu, Marcus van Lier-Walqui, Andrew S. Ackerman, Wei-Kuo Tao, Greg M. McFarquhar, Wei Wu, Xiquan Dong, Jingyu Wang, Alexander Ryzhkov, Pengfei Zhang, Michael R. Poellot, Andrea Neumann, and Jason M. Tomlinson
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Understanding observed storm microphysics via computer simulation requires measurements of aerosol on which most hydrometeors form. We prepare aerosol input data for six storms observed over Oklahoma. We demonstrate their use in simulations of a case with widespread ice outflow well sampled by aircraft. Simulations predict too few ice crystals that are too large. We speculate that microphysics found in tropical storms occurred here, likely associated with poorly understood ice multiplication.
Ann M. Fridlind, Rachel Atlas, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Junshik Um, Greg M. McFarquhar, Andrew S. Ackerman, Elisabeth J. Moyer, and R. Paul Lawson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7251–7283, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7251-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7251-2016, 2016
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Images of crystals within mid-latitude cirrus clouds are used to derive consistent ice physical and optical properties for a detailed cloud microphysics model, including size-dependent mass, projected area, and fall speed. Based on habits found, properties are derived for bullet rosettes, their aggregates, and crystals with irregular shapes. Derived bullet rosette fall speeds are substantially greater than reported in past studies, owing to differences in mass, area, or diameter representation.
A. S. Ackerman, A. M. Fridlind, A. Grandin, F. Dezitter, M. Weber, J. W. Strapp, and A. V. Korolev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11729–11751, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11729-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11729-2015, 2015
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An updraft parcel model with size-resolved microphysics is used to investigate microphysical pathways leading to ice water content > 2 g m-3 with mass median area-equivalent diameter of 200-300 micron reported at ~11 km in tropical deep convection. Parcel simulations require substantial source of small crystals at temperatures > ~-10 deg C growing by vapor deposition. Warm rain in weaker updrafts surprisingly leads to greater ice mass owing to reduced competition for available water vapor.
Abigail S. Williams, Jeramy L. Dedrick, Lynn M. Russell, Florian Tornow, Israel Silber, Ann M. Fridlind, Benjamin Swanson, Paul J. DeMott, Paul Zieger, and Radovan Krejci
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-584, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-584, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
The measured aerosol size distribution modes reveal distinct properties characteristic of cold-air outbreaks in the Norwegian Arctic. We find higher sea spray number concentration, smaller Hoppel minima, lower effective supersaturations, and accumulation mode particle scavenging during cold-air outbreaks. These results advance our understanding of cold-air outbreak aerosol-cloud interactions in order to improve their accurate representation in models.
Johannes Mülmenstädt, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Meng Huang, Po-Lun Ma, Naser Mahfouz, Susanne E. Bauer, Susannah M. Burrows, Matthew W. Christensen, Sudhakar Dipu, Andrew Gettelman, L. Ruby Leung, Florian Tornow, Johannes Quaas, Adam C. Varble, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, and Youtong Zheng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-778, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-778, 2024
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Stratocumulus clouds play a large role in Earth's climate by reflecting incoming solar energy back to space. Turbulence at stratocumulus cloud top mixes in drier, warmer air, which can lead to a reduction in cloud. This process is challenging for coarse-resolution global models to represent. We show that global models nevertheless agree well with our process understanding. Global models also think the process is less important for the climate than other lines of evidence had led us to conclude.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1577–1597, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we examine the extent to which radar measurements from space can inform us about the properties of clouds and precipitation. Surprisingly, our analysis showed that the amount of ice turning into rain was lower than expected in the current product. To improve on this, we came up with a new way to extract information about the size and concentration of particles from radar data. As long as we use this method in the right conditions, we can even estimate how dense the ice is.
Toshi Matsui, Daniel Hernandez-Deckers, Scott Giangrande, Thiago Biscaro, Ann Fridlind, and Scott Braun
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using computer simulations and real measurements, we discovered that during the dry periods, storms were narrower but more intense, producing heavier rain and more ice particles in the clouds. Our research showed that cumulus bubbles played a key role in creating these intense storms. This study can improve how continental and ocean environments affect tropical regions' rainfall patterns.
Johannes Mülmenstädt, Edward Gryspeerdt, Sudhakar Dipu, Johannes Quaas, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Florian Tornow, Susanne E. Bauer, Andrew Gettelman, Yi Ming, Youtong Zheng, Po-Lun Ma, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Matthew W. Christensen, Adam C. Varble, L. Ruby Leung, Xiaohong Liu, David Neubauer, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, and Toshihiko Takemura
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Human activities release copious amounts of small particles, called aerosols, into the atmosphere. These particles change how much sunlight clouds reflect to space, an important human perturbation of the climate whose magnitude is highly uncertain. We found that the latest climate models show a negative correlation but a positive causal relationship between aerosols and cloud water. This means we need to be very careful when we interpret observational studies that can only see correlation.
McKenna W. Stanford, Ann M. Fridlind, Israel Silber, Andrew S. Ackerman, Greg Cesana, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Alain Protat, Simon Alexander, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9037–9069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system as they modulate the amount of radiation that either reaches the surface or is reflected back to space. This study demonstrates an approach to robustly evaluate surface-based observations against a large-scale model. We find that the large-scale model precipitates too infrequently relative to observations, contrary to literature documentation suggesting otherwise based on satellite measurements.
Christopher R. Williams, Joshua Barrio, Paul E. Johnston, Paytsar Muradyan, and Scott E. Giangrande
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2381–2398, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023, 2023
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This study uses surface disdrometer observations to calibrate 8 years of 915 MHz radar wind profiler deployed in the central United States in northern Oklahoma. This study had two key findings. First, the radar wind profiler sensitivity decreased approximately 3 to 4 dB/year as the hardware aged. Second, this drift was slow enough that calibration can be performed using 3-month intervals. Calibrated radar wind profiler observations and Python processing code are available on public repositories.
Sergey Y. Matrosov, Alexei Korolev, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6373–6386, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6373-2022, 2022
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A remote sensing method to retrieve sizes of particles in ice clouds and precipitation from radar measurements at two wavelengths is described. This method is based on relating the particle size information to the ratio of radar signals at these two wavelengths. It is demonstrated that this ratio is informative about different characteristic particle sizes. Knowing atmospheric ice particle sizes is important for many applications such as precipitation estimation and climate modeling.
Alexei Korolev, Paul J. DeMott, Ivan Heckman, Mengistu Wolde, Earle Williams, David J. Smalley, and Michael F. Donovan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13103–13113, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, 2022
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The present study provides the first explicit in situ observation of secondary ice production at temperatures as low as −27 °C, which is well outside the range of the Hallett–Mossop process (−3 to −8 °C). This observation expands our knowledge of the temperature range of initiation of secondary ice in clouds. The obtained results are intended to stimulate laboratory and theoretical studies to develop physically based parameterizations for weather prediction and climate models.
Frederic Tridon, Israel Silber, Alessandro Battaglia, Stefan Kneifel, Ann Fridlind, Petros Kalogeras, and Ranvir Dhillon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12467–12491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12467-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12467-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The role of ice precipitation in the Earth water budget is not well known because ice particles are complex, and their formation involves intricate processes. Riming of ice crystals by supercooled water droplets is an efficient process, but little is known about its importance at high latitudes. In this work, by exploiting the deployment of an unprecedented number of remote sensing systems in Antarctica, we find that riming occurs at much lower temperatures compared with the mid-latitudes.
Zhipeng Qu, Alexei Korolev, Jason A. Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Yongjie Huang, Greg M. McFarquhar, Hugh Morrison, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12287–12310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, 2022
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Secondary ice production (SIP) is an important physical phenomenon that results in an increase in the cloud ice particle concentration and can have a significant impact on the evolution of clouds. Here, idealized simulations of a tropical convective system were conducted. Agreement between the simulations and observations highlights the impacts of SIP on the maintenance of tropical convection in nature and the importance of including the modelling of SIP in numerical weather prediction models.
Michael S. Diamond, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Andrew S. Ackerman, Sarah J. Doherty, Ann M. Fridlind, Hamish Gordon, Calvin Howes, Jan Kazil, Takanobu Yamaguchi, Jianhao Zhang, Graham Feingold, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12113–12151, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, 2022
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Smoke from southern Africa blankets the southeast Atlantic from June-October, overlying a major transition region between overcast and scattered clouds. The smoke affects Earth's radiation budget by absorbing sunlight and changing cloud properties. We investigate these effects in regional climate and large eddy simulation models based on international field campaigns. We find that large-scale circulation changes more strongly affect cloud transitions than smoke microphysical effects in our case.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Ming Xue, Hugh Morrison, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, Yachao Hu, Zhipeng Qu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2365–2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, 2022
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Numerous small ice crystals in tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. Previous numerical simulations failed to reproduce this phenomenon and hypothesized that key microphysical processes are still lacking in current models to realistically simulate the phenomenon. This study uses numerical experiments to confirm the dominant role of secondary ice production in the formation of these large numbers of small ice crystals.
Israel Silber, Robert C. Jackson, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Scott Collis, Johannes Verlinde, and Jiachen Ding
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 901–927, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-901-2022, 2022
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The Earth Model Column Collaboratory (EMC2) is an open-source ground-based (and air- or space-borne) lidar and radar simulator and subcolumn generator designed for large-scale models, in particular climate models, applicable also for high-resolution models. EMC2 emulates measurements while remaining faithful to large-scale models' physical assumptions implemented in their cloud or radiation schemes. We demonstrate the use of EMC2 to compare AWARE measurements with the NASA GISS ModelE3 and LES.
Daniel Hernandez-Deckers, Toshihisa Matsui, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 711–724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-711-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-711-2022, 2022
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We investigate how the concentration of aerosols (small particles that serve as seeds for cloud droplets) affect the dynamics of simulated clouds using two different frameworks, i.e., the traditional selection of cloudy rising grid points and tracking small-scale coherent rising features (cumulus thermals). By doing so, we find that these cumulus thermals reveal useful information about the coupling between internal cloud circulations and cloud droplet and raindrop formation.
Haoran Li, Alexei Korolev, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13593–13608, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13593-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13593-2021, 2021
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Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) clouds embedded in a stratiform precipitation event were uncovered via radar Doppler spectral analysis. Given the unprecedented detail of the observations, we show that multiple populations of secondary ice columns were generated in the pockets where larger cloud droplets are formed and not at some constant level within the cloud. Our results highlight that the K–H instability is favorable for liquid droplet growth and secondary ice formation.
Florian Tornow, Andrew S. Ackerman, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12049–12067, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12049-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12049-2021, 2021
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Cold air outbreaks affect the local energy budget by forming bright boundary layer clouds that, once it rains, evolve into dimmer, broken cloud fields that are depleted of condensation nuclei – an evolution consistent with closed-to-open cell transitions. We find that cloud ice accelerates this evolution, primarily via riming prior to rain onset, which (1) reduces liquid water, (2) reduces condensation nuclei, and (3) leads to early precipitation cooling and moistening below cloud.
Christopher R. Williams, Karen L. Johnson, Scott E. Giangrande, Joseph C. Hardin, Ruşen Öktem, and David M. Romps
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4425–4444, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4425-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4425-2021, 2021
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In addition to detecting clouds, vertically pointing cloud radars detect individual insects passing over head. If these insects are not identified and removed from raw observations, then radar-derived cloud properties will be contaminated. This work identifies clouds in radar observations due to their continuous and smooth structure in time, height, and velocity. Cloud masks are produced that identify cloud vertical structure that are free of insect contamination.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Xuguang Wang, Hugh Morrison, Alexander Ryzhkov, Yachao Hu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6919–6944, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, 2021
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Numerous small ice crystals in the tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. This study evaluated the numerical models against the airborne observations and investigated the potential cloud processes that could lead to the production of these large numbers of small ice crystals. It is found that key microphysical processes are still lacking or misrepresented in current numerical models to realistically simulate the phenomenon.
Israel Silber, Ann M. Fridlind, Johannes Verlinde, Andrew S. Ackerman, Grégory V. Cesana, and Daniel A. Knopf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3949–3971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021, 2021
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Long-term ground-based radar and sounding measurements over Alaska (Antarctica) indicate that more than 85 % (75 %) of supercooled clouds are precipitating at cloud base and that 75 % (50 %) are precipitating to the surface. Such high prevalence is reconciled with lesser spaceborne estimates by considering radar sensitivity. Results provide a strong observational constraint for polar cloud processes in large-scale models.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
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Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Johannes Quaas, Antti Arola, Brian Cairns, Matthew Christensen, Hartwig Deneke, Annica M. L. Ekman, Graham Feingold, Ann Fridlind, Edward Gryspeerdt, Otto Hasekamp, Zhanqing Li, Antti Lipponen, Po-Lun Ma, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Athanasios Nenes, Joyce E. Penner, Daniel Rosenfeld, Roland Schrödner, Kenneth Sinclair, Odran Sourdeval, Philip Stier, Matthias Tesche, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15079–15099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, 2020
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Anthropogenic pollution particles – aerosols – serve as cloud condensation nuclei and thus increase cloud droplet concentration and the clouds' reflection of sunlight (a cooling effect on climate). This Twomey effect is poorly constrained by models and requires satellite data for better quantification. The review summarizes the challenges in properly doing so and outlines avenues for progress towards a better use of aerosol retrievals and better retrievals of droplet concentrations.
Alexei Korolev and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11767–11797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11767-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11767-2020, 2020
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Secondary ice production (SIP) plays a key role in the formation of ice particles in tropospheric clouds. This work presents a critical review of the laboratory studies related to secondary ice production. It aims to identify gaps in our knowledge of SIP as well as to stimulate further laboratory studies focused on obtaining a quantitative description of efficiencies for each SIP mechanism.
Emmanuel Fontaine, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Delphine Leroy, Julien Delanoë, Alain Protat, Fabien Dezitter, John Walter Strapp, and Lyle Edward Lilie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3503–3553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3503-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3503-2020, 2020
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This study investigates properties of ice hydrometeors (shape, concentration, density, and size) in deep convective systems. The analysis focuses on similarities and differences over four locations in the tropical troposphere. It shows that measurements as a function of temperature and radar reflectivity factors tend to be similar in the four types of deep convective systems when concentrations of ice are larger than 0.1 g m-3.
Alexei Korolev, Ivan Heckman, Mengistu Wolde, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Luis A. Ladino, R. Paul Lawson, Jason Milbrandt, and Earle Williams
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1391–1429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1391-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1391-2020, 2020
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This study attempts identification of mechanisms of secondary ice production (SIP) based on the observation of small faceted ice crystals. It was found that in both mesoscale convective systems and frontal clouds, SIP was observed right above the melting layer and extended to the higher altitudes with colder temperatures. A principal conclusion of this work is that the freezing drop shattering mechanism is plausibly accounting for the measured ice concentrations in the observed condition.
Cuong M. Nguyen, Mengistu Wolde, and Alexei Korolev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5897–5911, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5897-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5897-2019, 2019
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This paper presents a methodology for high ice water content (HIWC) (up to 3.5 g m−3) retrieval from a dual-polarization side-looking X-band airborne radar. Zdr and Kdp are used to mitigate the effects of ice crystal shape and orientation on the variation in IWC – specific differential phase (Kdp) joint distribution. Empirical analysis shows that the proposed method improves the estimation bias by 35 % and increases the correlation by 4 % on average, compared to the method using Kdp alone.
Ingo Wohltmann, Ralph Lehmann, Georg A. Gottwald, Karsten Peters, Alain Protat, Valentin Louf, Christopher Williams, Wuhu Feng, and Markus Rex
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4387–4407, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4387-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4387-2019, 2019
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We present a trajectory-based model for simulating the transport of air parcels by convection. Our model extends the approach of existing models by explicitly simulating vertical updraft velocities inside the clouds and the time that an air parcel spends inside the convective event.
Jingjing Tian, Xiquan Dong, Baike Xi, Christopher R. Williams, and Peng Wu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3743–3759, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3743-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3743-2019, 2019
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Liquid water path (LWP) is a combination of rain liquid water path (RLWP) and cloud liquid water path (CLWP) in stratiform precipitation systems. LWP partitioning is important but poorly understood. Here we estimate the RLWP and CLWP below the melting base simultaneously and separately using ceilometer and radar measurements. Results show that the occurrence of cloud particles below the melting base is low; however, when cloud particles exist, the CLWP value is much larger than the RLWP.
Ann M. Fridlind, Marcus van Lier-Walqui, Scott Collis, Scott E. Giangrande, Robert C. Jackson, Xiaowen Li, Toshihisa Matsui, Richard Orville, Mark H. Picel, Daniel Rosenfeld, Alexander Ryzhkov, Richard Weitz, and Pengfei Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2979–3000, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2979-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2979-2019, 2019
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Weather radars are offering improved capabilities to investigate storm physics, which remain poorly understood. We investigate enhanced use of such data near Houston, Texas, where pollution sources often provide a convenient contrast between polluted and clean air. We conclude that Houston is a favorable location to conduct a future field campaign during June through September because isolated storms are common and tend to last an hour, allowing frequent observations of a full life cycle.
Grégory Cesana, Anthony D. Del Genio, Andrew S. Ackerman, Maxwell Kelley, Gregory Elsaesser, Ann M. Fridlind, Ye Cheng, and Mao-Sung Yao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2813–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2813-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2813-2019, 2019
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The response of low clouds to climate change (i.e., cloud feedbacks) is still pointed out as being the largest source of uncertainty in climate models. Here we use CALIPSO observations to discriminate climate models that reproduce observed interannual change of cloud fraction with SST forcings, referred to as a present-day cloud feedback. Modeling moist processes in the planetary boundary layer is crucial to produce large stratocumulus decks and realistic present-day cloud feedbacks.
Robert Jackson, Jeffrey R. French, David C. Leon, David M. Plummer, Sonia Lasher-Trapp, Alan M. Blyth, and Alexei Korolev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15329–15344, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15329-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15329-2018, 2018
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This paper looks at microphysical observations of growing cumulus clouds in the southwest United Kingdom sampled during the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE). Our results suggest that secondary ice production processes are contributing to the observed concentrations and that entrainment of particles from remnant cloud layers may have acted to aid in secondary ice production.
Katia Lamer, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Pavlos Kollias, Eugene E. Clothiaux, and Maxwell Kelley
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4195–4214, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4195-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4195-2018, 2018
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Weather and climate predictions of cloud, rain, and snow occurrence remain uncertain, in part because guidance from observation is incomplete. We present a tool that transforms predictions into observations from ground-based remote sensors. Liquid water and ice occurrence errors associated with the transformation are below 8 %, with ~ 3 % uncertainty. This (GO)2-SIM forward-simulator tool enables better evaluation of cloud, rain, and snow occurrence predictions using available observations.
Christopher R. Williams, Maximilian Maahn, Joseph C. Hardin, and Gijs de Boer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4963–4980, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4963-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4963-2018, 2018
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This study presents three signal-processing methods to improve estimates derived from a vertically pointing 35 GHz cloud radar deployed at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The first method removes ground clutter from the Doppler velocity spectra. The second method estimates multiple peaks and high-order moments from the improved spectra. The third method removes high-frequency variability in high-order moments by shifting original 2 s spectra to a common reference before averaging over a 15 s interval.
Daniel J. Miller, Zhibo Zhang, Steven Platnick, Andrew S. Ackerman, Frank Werner, Celine Cornet, and Kirk Knobelspiesse
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3689–3715, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3689-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3689-2018, 2018
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Prior satellite comparisons of bispectral and polarimetric cloud droplet size retrievals exhibited systematic biases. However, similar airborne instrument retrievals have been found to be quite similar to one another. This study explains this discrepancy in terms of differing sensitivity to vertical profile, as well as spatial and angular resolution. This is accomplished by using a satellite retrieval simulator – an LES cloud model coupled to radiative transfer and cloud retrieval algorithms.
Xiaoli Zhou, Andrew S. Ackerman, Ann M. Fridlind, Robert Wood, and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12725–12742, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12725-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12725-2017, 2017
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Shallow maritime clouds make a well-known transition from stratocumulus to trade cumulus with flow from the subtropics equatorward. Three-day large-eddy simulations that investigate the potential influence of overlying African biomass burning plumes during that transition indicate that cloud-related impacts are likely substantially cooling to negligible at the top of the atmosphere, with magnitude sensitive to background and perturbation aerosol and cloud properties.
Emmanuel Fontaine, Delphine Leroy, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Julien Delanoë, Alain Protat, Fabien Dezitter, Alice Grandin, John Walter Strapp, and Lyle Edward Lilie
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2239–2252, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2239-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2239-2017, 2017
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In this study we evaluate a method to estimate cloud water content (CWC) knowing cloud reflectivity. Ice hydrometeors are replace by ice oblate spheroids to simulate their reflectivity. There is no assumption on the relation between mass and their size. Then, a broad range of CWCs are compared with direct measurements of CWC. The accuracy of the method is ~ ±32 %. This study is performed in areas of convective clouds where reflectivity and CWC are especially high, what makes it unique.
Ann M. Fridlind, Xiaowen Li, Di Wu, Marcus van Lier-Walqui, Andrew S. Ackerman, Wei-Kuo Tao, Greg M. McFarquhar, Wei Wu, Xiquan Dong, Jingyu Wang, Alexander Ryzhkov, Pengfei Zhang, Michael R. Poellot, Andrea Neumann, and Jason M. Tomlinson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5947–5972, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5947-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5947-2017, 2017
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Understanding observed storm microphysics via computer simulation requires measurements of aerosol on which most hydrometeors form. We prepare aerosol input data for six storms observed over Oklahoma. We demonstrate their use in simulations of a case with widespread ice outflow well sampled by aircraft. Simulations predict too few ice crystals that are too large. We speculate that microphysics found in tropical storms occurred here, likely associated with poorly understood ice multiplication.
Adrianus de Laat, Eric Defer, Julien Delanoë, Fabien Dezitter, Amanda Gounou, Alice Grandin, Anthony Guignard, Jan Fokke Meirink, Jean-Marc Moisselin, and Frédéric Parol
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1359–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1359-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1359-2017, 2017
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In-flight icing is an important aviation hazard which is still poorly understood, but consensus is that the presence of high ice water content is a necessary condition. For the European High Altitude Ice Crystals project a geostationary satellite remote-sensing mask has been developed for detection of atmospheric cloud environments where high ice water content is likely to occur. The mask performs satisfactory when compared against independent satellite ice water content measurements.
W. Richard Leaitch, Alexei Korolev, Amir A. Aliabadi, Julia Burkart, Megan D. Willis, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Heiko Bozem, Peter Hoor, Franziska Köllner, Johannes Schneider, Andreas Herber, Christian Konrad, and Ralf Brauner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11107–11124, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11107-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11107-2016, 2016
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Thought to be mostly unimportant for summertime Arctic liquid-water clouds, airborne observations show that atmospheric aerosol particles 50 nm in diameter or smaller and most likely from natural sources are often involved in cloud formation in the pristine Arctic summer. The result expands the reference for aerosol forcing of climate. Further, for extremely low droplet concentrations, no evidence is found for a connection between cloud liquid water and aerosol particle concentrations.
Alexei Korolev, Alex Khain, Mark Pinsky, and Jeffrey French
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9235–9254, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9235-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9235-2016, 2016
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Relationships between basic microphysical parameters are studied within the framework of homogeneous and extreme inhomogeneous mixing. Analytical expressions and numerical simulations of relationships between droplet concentration, extinction coefficient, liquid water content, and mean volume droplet size are presented. The obtained relationships between moments are used to identify type of mixing for in situ observations obtained in convective clouds.
Mark Pinsky, Alexander Khain, Alexei Korolev, and Leehi Magaritz-Ronen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9255–9272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9255-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9255-2016, 2016
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The evolution of monodisperse and polydisperse droplet size distributions (DSDs) during
homogeneous mixing is analyzed. It is shown that the classic conceptual scheme, according to which homogeneous mixing leads to a decrease in the droplet mass under constant droplet concentration, is valid only in cases of initially very narrow DSDs. In cases of wide DSDs a decrease of both mass and concentration take place such that the characteristic droplet sizes remain nearly constant.
Mark Pinsky, Alexander Khain, and Alexei Korolev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9273–9297, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9273-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9273-2016, 2016
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An idealized diffusion--evaporation model of time-dependent mixing between cloud and non-cloud volumes is analyzed. It is shown that the evolution of microphysical variables and the final equilibrium stage are unambiguously determined by two non-dimensional parameters. Delimitation between the types of mixing on the plane of these parameters is carried out. The definitions of homogeneous and inhomogeneous mixings are reconsidered and clarified. Results are compared with the classical concept.
Ann M. Fridlind, Rachel Atlas, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Junshik Um, Greg M. McFarquhar, Andrew S. Ackerman, Elisabeth J. Moyer, and R. Paul Lawson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7251–7283, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7251-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7251-2016, 2016
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Images of crystals within mid-latitude cirrus clouds are used to derive consistent ice physical and optical properties for a detailed cloud microphysics model, including size-dependent mass, projected area, and fall speed. Based on habits found, properties are derived for bullet rosettes, their aggregates, and crystals with irregular shapes. Derived bullet rosette fall speeds are substantially greater than reported in past studies, owing to differences in mass, area, or diameter representation.
J. W. Taylor, T. W. Choularton, A. M. Blyth, Z. Liu, K. N. Bower, J. Crosier, M. W. Gallagher, P. I. Williams, J. R. Dorsey, M. J. Flynn, L. J. Bennett, Y. Huang, J. French, A. Korolev, and P. R. A. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 799–826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-799-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-799-2016, 2016
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We present microphysical observations of cumulus clouds measured over south-west England during COPE in summer 2013. Detailed sampling focused on an isolated liquid cloud that glaciated as it matured to merge with a band of cloud downwind. The first ice particles observed were frozen drizzle, while columnar ice dominated in the mature stages. We discuss the interactions between the warm rain and secondary ice processes, and their importance for the formation of precipitation.
A. S. Ackerman, A. M. Fridlind, A. Grandin, F. Dezitter, M. Weber, J. W. Strapp, and A. V. Korolev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11729–11751, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11729-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11729-2015, 2015
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An updraft parcel model with size-resolved microphysics is used to investigate microphysical pathways leading to ice water content > 2 g m-3 with mass median area-equivalent diameter of 200-300 micron reported at ~11 km in tropical deep convection. Parcel simulations require substantial source of small crystals at temperatures > ~-10 deg C growing by vapor deposition. Warm rain in weaker updrafts surprisingly leads to greater ice mass owing to reduced competition for available water vapor.
A. Korolev and P. R. Field
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 761–777, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-761-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-761-2015, 2015
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Lifecycle of updrafts and mass flux in isolated deep convection over the Amazon rainforest: insights from cell tracking
Thermodynamic and cloud evolution in a cold-air outbreak during HALO-(AC)3: quasi-Lagrangian observations compared to the ERA5 and CARRA reanalyses
Powering aircraft with 100 % sustainable aviation fuel reduces ice crystals in contrails
Measurement Report: Cloud and environmental properties associated with aggregated shallow marine cumulus and cumulus congestus
Supercooled liquid water clouds observed over Dome C, Antarctica: temperature sensitivity and cloud radiative forcing
Role of thermodynamic and turbulence processes on the fog life cycle during SOFOG3D experiment
Characterizing the near-global cloud vertical structures over land using high-resolution radiosonde measurements
Differences in microphysical properties of cirrus at high and mid-latitudes
Sub-cloud rain evaporation in the North Atlantic winter trade winds derived by pairing isotopic data with a bin-resolved microphysical model
Overview and statistical analysis of boundary layer clouds and precipitation over the western North Atlantic Ocean
A set of methods to evaluate the below-cloud evaporation effect on local precipitation isotopic composition: a case study for Xi'an, China
Earth-system-model evaluation of cloud and precipitation occurrence for supercooled and warm clouds over the Southern Ocean's Macquarie Island
Pollution slightly enhances atmospheric cooling by low-level clouds in tropical West Africa
Investigating an indirect aviation effect on mid-latitude cirrus clouds – linking lidar-derived optical properties to in situ measurements
Investigating the vertical extent and short-wave radiative effects of the ice phase in Arctic summertime low-level clouds
Microphysical and thermodynamic phase analyses of Arctic low-level clouds measured above the sea ice and the open ocean in spring and summer
Day-night differences in δ18O and d-excess of convective rainfall in the Rio Claro station, inland tropics of Brazil
Aircraft observations of gravity wave activity and turbulence in the tropical tropopause layer: prevalence, influence on cirrus clouds, and comparison with global storm-resolving models
Influence of air mass origin on microphysical properties of low-level clouds in a subarctic environment
Sensitivity of convectively driven tropical tropopause cirrus properties to ice habits in high-resolution simulations
Upper-tropospheric slightly ice-subsaturated regions: frequency of occurrence and statistical evidence for the appearance of contrail cirrus
Examination of aerosol indirect effects during cirrus cloud evolution
In situ microphysics observations of intense pyroconvection from a large wildfire
Conditions favorable for secondary ice production in Arctic mixed-phase clouds
Interaction between cloud–radiation, atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics based on observational data from GoAmazon 2014/15 and a cloud-resolving model
Snowfall in Northern Finland derives mostly from ice clouds
Observation of secondary ice production in clouds at low temperatures
In situ and satellite-based estimates of cloud properties and aerosol–cloud interactions over the southeast Atlantic Ocean
Ice fog observed at cirrus temperatures at Dome C, Antarctic Plateau
Life cycle of stratocumulus clouds over 1 year at the coast of the Atacama Desert
Experimental study on the evolution of droplet size distribution during the fog life cycle
Significant continental source of ice-nucleating particles at the tip of Chile's southernmost Patagonia region
Retrieving ice-nucleating particle concentration and ice multiplication factors using active remote sensing validated by in situ observations
Temporal and vertical distributions of the occurrence of cirrus clouds over a coastal station in the Indian monsoon region
Continental thunderstorm ground enhancement observed at an exceptionally low altitude
Ice-nucleating particles from multiple aerosol sources in the urban environment of Beijing under mixed-phase cloud conditions
In situ observation of riming in mixed-phase clouds using the PHIPS probe
Measurement report: Introduction to the HyICE-2018 campaign for measurements of ice-nucleating particles and instrument inter-comparison in the Hyytiälä boreal forest
North Atlantic Ocean SST-gradient-driven variations in aerosol and cloud evolution along Lagrangian cold-air outbreak trajectories
Factors affecting precipitation formation and precipitation susceptibility of marine stratocumulus with variable above- and below-cloud aerosol concentrations over the Southeast Atlantic
An assessment of macrophysical and microphysical cloud properties driving radiative forcing of shallow trade-wind clouds
High concentrations of ice crystals in upper-tropospheric tropical clouds: is there a link to biomass and fossil fuel combustion?
Atmospheric rivers and associated precipitation patterns during the ACLOUD and PASCAL campaigns near Svalbard (May–June 2017): case studies using observations, reanalyses, and a regional climate model
Mass of different snow crystal shapes derived from fall speed measurements
Measurement report: Impact of African aerosol particles on cloud evolution in a tropical montane cloud forest in the Caribbean
Annual exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban environments linked to wintertime wood-burning episodes
Reduced ice number concentrations in contrails from low-aromatic biofuel blends
Distinct impacts on precipitation by aerosol radiative effect over three different megacity regions of eastern China
Estimation of the terms acting on local 1 h surface temperature variations in Paris region: the specific contribution of clouds
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic
Siddhant Gupta, Dié Wang, Scott E. Giangrande, Thiago S. Biscaro, and Michael P. Jensen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4487–4510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, 2024
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We examine the lifecycle of isolated deep convective clouds (DCCs) in the Amazon rainforest. Weather radar echoes from the DCCs are tracked to evaluate their lifecycle. The DCC size and intensity increase, reach a peak, and then decrease over the DCC lifetime. Vertical profiles of air motion and mass transport from different seasons are examined to understand the transport of energy and momentum within DCC cores and to address the deficiencies in simulating DCCs using weather and climate models.
Benjamin Kirbus, Imke Schirmacher, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Schäfer, André Ehrlich, Nils Slättberg, Johannes Lucke, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3883–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, 2024
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A research aircraft is used to track the changes in air temperature, moisture, and cloud properties for air that moves from cold Arctic sea ice onto warmer oceanic waters. The measurements are compared to two reanalysis models named ERA5 and CARRA. The biggest differences are found for air temperature over the sea ice and moisture over the ocean. CARRA data are more accurate than ERA5 because they better simulate the sea ice, the transition from sea ice to open ocean, and the forming clouds.
Raphael Satoru Märkl, Christiane Voigt, Daniel Sauer, Rebecca Katharina Dischl, Stefan Kaufmann, Theresa Harlaß, Valerian Hahn, Anke Roiger, Cornelius Weiß-Rehm, Ulrike Burkhardt, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Marsing, Monika Scheibe, Andreas Dörnbrack, Charles Renard, Maxime Gauthier, Peter Swann, Paul Madden, Darren Luff, Reetu Sallinen, Tobias Schripp, and Patrick Le Clercq
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3813–3837, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3813-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3813-2024, 2024
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In situ measurements of contrails from a large passenger aircraft burning 100 % sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) show a 56 % reduction in contrail ice crystal numbers compared to conventional Jet A-1. Results from a climate model initialized with the observations suggest a significant decrease in radiative forcing from contrails. Our study confirms that future increased use of low aromatic SAF can reduce the climate impact from aviation.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke Ziemba, Michael Shook, Taylor Shingler, Johnathan Hair, Armin Sorooshian, Richard Ferrare, Brian Cairns, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua DiGangi, Glenn Diskin, Chris Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard Herbert Moore, David Painemal, Claire Robinson, Shane Seaman, Kenneth Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, and Edward Winstead
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-148, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-148, 2024
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Marine clouds are found to clump together in regions or lines, readily discernible from satellite images of the ocean. While clustering is also a feature of deep storm clouds, we focus on smaller cloud systems associated with fair weather and brief localized showers. Two aircraft sampled the region around these shallow systems and incorporated measurements taken within, adjacent, and below cloud by one aircraft, while the other provided a survey from above using remote sensing techniques.
Philippe Ricaud, Massimo Del Guasta, Angelo Lupi, Romain Roehrig, Eric Bazile, Pierre Durand, Jean-Luc Attié, Alessia Nicosia, and Paolo Grigioni
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 613–630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-613-2024, 2024
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Clouds affect the Earth's climate in ways that depend on the type of cloud (solid/liquid water). From observations at Concordia (Antarctica), we show that in supercooled liquid water (liquid water for temperatures below 0°C) clouds (SLWCs), temperature and SLWC radiative forcing increase with liquid water (up to 70 W m−2). We extrapolated that the maximum SLWC radiative forcing can reach 40 W m−2 over the Antarctic Peninsula, highlighting the importance of SLWCs for global climate prediction.
Cheikh Dione, Martial Haeffelin, Frédéric Burnet, Christine Lac, Guylaine Canut, Julien Delanoë, Jean-Charles Dupont, Susana Jorquera, Pauline Martinet, Jean-François Ribaud, and Felipe Toledo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15711–15731, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15711-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15711-2023, 2023
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This paper documents the role of thermodynamics and turbulence in the fog life cycle over southwestern France. It is based on a unique dataset collected during the SOFOG3D field campaign in autumn and winter 2019–2020. The paper gives a threshold for turbulence driving the different phases of the fog life cycle and the role of advection in the night-time dissipation of fog. The results can be operationalised to nowcast fog and improve short-range forecasts in numerical weather prediction models.
Hui Xu, Jianping Guo, Bing Tong, Jinqiang Zhang, Tianmeng Chen, Xiaoran Guo, Jian Zhang, and Wenqing Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15011–15038, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15011-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15011-2023, 2023
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The radiative effect of cloud remains one of the largest uncertain factors in climate change, largely due to the lack of cloud vertical structure (CVS) observations. The study presents the first near-global CVS climatology using high-vertical-resolution soundings. Single-layer cloud mainly occurs over arid regions. As the number of cloud layers increases, clouds tend to have lower bases and thinner layer thicknesses. The occurrence frequency of cloud exhibits a pronounced seasonal diurnal cycle.
Elena De La Torre Castro, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Armin Afchine, Volker Grewe, Valerian Hahn, Simon Kirschler, Martina Krämer, Johannes Lucke, Nicole Spelten, Heini Wernli, Martin Zöger, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13167–13189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13167-2023, 2023
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In this study, we show the differences in the microphysical properties between high-latitude (HL) cirrus and mid-latitude (ML) cirrus over the Arctic, North Atlantic, and central Europe during summer. The in situ measurements are combined with backward trajectories to investigate the influence of the region on cloud formation. We show that HL cirrus are characterized by a lower concentration of larger ice crystals when compared to ML cirrus.
Mampi Sarkar, Adriana Bailey, Peter Blossey, Simon P. de Szoeke, David Noone, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Mason D. Leandro, and Patrick Y. Chuang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12671–12690, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12671-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12671-2023, 2023
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We study rain evaporation characteristics below shallow cumulus clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean by pairing isotope observations with a microphysical model. The modeled fraction of rain mass that evaporates below the cloud strongly depends on the raindrop size and distribution width. Moreover, the higher the rain mass fraction evaporated, the greater the change in deuterium excess. In this way, rain evaporation could be studied independently using only isotope and microphysical observations.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce E. Anderson, Gao Chen, Ewan C. Crosbie, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johnathan W. Hair, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire E. Robinson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Amy J. Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10731–10750, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, 2023
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In this study we present an overview of liquid and mixed-phase clouds and precipitation in the marine boundary layer over the western North Atlantic Ocean. We compare microphysical properties of pure liquid clouds to mixed-phase clouds and show that the initiation of the ice phase in mixed-phase clouds promotes precipitation. The observational data presented in this study are well suited for investigating the processes that give rise to liquid and mixed-phase clouds, ice, and precipitation.
Meng Xing, Weiguo Liu, Jing Hu, and Zheng Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9123–9136, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9123-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9123-2023, 2023
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The below-cloud evaporation effect (BCE) on precipitation largely impacts the final isotopic composition. However, determining the BCE effect remains poorly constrained. Our work used a ΔdΔδ diagram to differentiate the below-cloud processes. Moreover, by comparing two different computing methods, we considered that both methods are suitable for evaluation the BCE, except for snowfall events. Overall, our work compiled a set of effective methods to evaluate the BCE effect.
McKenna W. Stanford, Ann M. Fridlind, Israel Silber, Andrew S. Ackerman, Greg Cesana, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Alain Protat, Simon Alexander, and Adrian McDonald
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9037–9069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9037-2023, 2023
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Clouds play an important role in the Earth’s climate system as they modulate the amount of radiation that either reaches the surface or is reflected back to space. This study demonstrates an approach to robustly evaluate surface-based observations against a large-scale model. We find that the large-scale model precipitates too infrequently relative to observations, contrary to literature documentation suggesting otherwise based on satellite measurements.
Valerian Hahn, Ralf Meerkötter, Christiane Voigt, Sonja Gisinger, Daniel Sauer, Valéry Catoire, Volker Dreiling, Hugh Coe, Cyrille Flamant, Stefan Kaufmann, Jonas Kleine, Peter Knippertz, Manuel Moser, Philip Rosenberg, Hans Schlager, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Jonathan Taylor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8515–8530, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8515-2023, 2023
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During the DACCIWA campaign in West Africa, we found a 35 % increase in the cloud droplet concentration that formed in a polluted compared with a less polluted environment and a decrease of 17 % in effective droplet diameter. Radiative transfer simulations, based on the measured cloud properties, reveal that these low-level polluted clouds radiate only 2.6 % more energy back to space, compared with a less polluted cloud. The corresponding additional decrease in temperature is rather small.
Silke Groß, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Qiang Li, Martin Wirth, Benedikt Urbanek, Martina Krämer, Ralf Weigel, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8369–8381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, 2023
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Aviation-emitted aerosol can have an impact on cirrus clouds. We present optical and microphysical properties of mid-latitude cirrus clouds which were formed under the influence of aviation-emitted aerosol or which were formed under rather pristine conditions. We find that cirrus clouds affected by aviation-emitted aerosol show larger values of the particle linear depolarization ratio, larger mean effective ice particle diameters and decreased ice particle number concentrations.
Emma Järvinen, Franziska Nehlert, Guanglang Xu, Fritz Waitz, Guillaume Mioche, Regis Dupuy, Olivier Jourdan, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7611–7633, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7611-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7611-2023, 2023
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The Arctic is warming faster than other regions. Arctic low-level mixed-phase clouds, where ice crystals and liquid droplets co-exist, are thought to have an important role in Arctic warming. Here we show airborne measurements of vertical distribution of liquid and ice particles and their relative abundance. Ice particles are found in relative warm clouds, which can be explained by multiplication of existing ice crystals. However, the role of ice particles in redistributing sun light is minimal.
Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Valerian Hahn, Guillaume Mioche, Olivier Jourdan, Régis Dupuy, Christophe Gourbeyre, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Johannes Lucke, Yvonne Boose, Mario Mech, Stephan Borrmann, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7257–7280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, 2023
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This study provides a comprehensive microphysical and thermodynamic phase analysis of low-level clouds in the northern Fram Strait, above the sea ice and the open ocean, during spring and summer. Using airborne in situ cloud data, we show that the properties of Arctic low-level clouds vary significantly with seasonal meteorological situations and surface conditions. The observations presented in this study can help one to assess the role of clouds in the Arctic climate system.
Vinicius dos Santos, Didier Gastmans, Ana María Durán-Quesada, Ricardo Sánchez-Murillo, Kazimierz Rozanski, Oliver Kracht, and Demilson de Assis Quintão
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-710, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-710, 2023
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We present novel about convective rainfall, the summer rain in the late afternoon, coupling water stable isotopes, micro rain radar and satellite data. We found tallest clouds in the afternoon and much smaller cloud at night, resulting in differences in day-night ratios in water stable isotopes. Our sampling scheme, rain and meteorological variables every 5–10 minutes, allowing to evaluate the development of convective rainfall, contributing for understanding rainfall related to extreme events.
Rachel Atlas and Christopher S. Bretherton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4009–4030, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4009-2023, 2023
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The tropical tropopause layer exists between the troposphere and the stratosphere in the tropics. Very thin cirrus clouds cool Earth's surface by scrubbing water vapor (a greenhouse gas) out of air parcels as they ascend through the tropical tropopause layer on their way to the stratosphere. We show observational evidence from aircraft that small-scale (< 100 km) gravity waves and turbulence increase the amount of ice in these clouds and may allow them to remove more water vapor from the air.
Konstantinos Matthaios Doulgeris, Ville Vakkari, Ewan J. O'Connor, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Heikki Lihavainen, and David Brus
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2483–2498, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2483-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2483-2023, 2023
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We investigated how different long-range-transported air masses can affect the microphysical properties of low-level clouds in a clean subarctic environment. A connection was revealed. Higher values of cloud droplet number concentrations were related to continental air masses, whereas the lowest values of number concentrations were related to marine air masses. These were characterized by larger cloud droplets. Clouds in all regions were sensitive to increases in cloud number concentration.
Fayçal Lamraoui, Martina Krämer, Armin Afchine, Adam B. Sokol, Sergey Khaykin, Apoorva Pandey, and Zhiming Kuang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2393–2419, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2393-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2393-2023, 2023
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Cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) can play a key role in vertical transport. We investigate the role of different cloud regimes and the associated ice habits in regulating the properties of the TTL. We use high-resolution numerical experiments at the scales of large-eddy simulations (LESs) and aircraft measurements. We found that LES-scale parameterizations that predict ice shape are crucial for an accurate representation of TTL cirrus and thus the associated (de)hydration process.
Yun Li, Christoph Mahnke, Susanne Rohs, Ulrich Bundke, Nicole Spelten, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Silke Groß, Christiane Voigt, Ulrich Schumann, Andreas Petzold, and Martina Krämer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2251–2271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2251-2023, 2023
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The radiative effect of aviation-induced cirrus is closely related to ambient conditions and its microphysical properties. Our study investigated the occurrence of contrail and natural cirrus measured above central Europe in spring 2014. It finds that contrail cirrus appears frequently in the pressure range 200 to 245 hPa and occurs more often in slightly ice-subsaturated environments than expected. Avoiding slightly ice-subsaturated regions by aviation might help mitigate contrail cirrus.
Flor Vanessa Maciel, Minghui Diao, and Ryan Patnaude
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1103–1129, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1103-2023, 2023
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Aerosol indirect effects on cirrus clouds are investigated during cirrus evolution, using global-scale in situ observations and climate model simulations. As cirrus evolves, the mechanisms to form ice crystals also change with time. Both small and large aerosols are found to affect cirrus properties. Southern Hemisphere cirrus appears to be more sensitive to additional aerosols. The climate model underestimates ice crystal mass, likely due to biases of relative humidity and vertical velocity.
David E. Kingsmill, Jeffrey R. French, and Neil P. Lareau
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1–21, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1-2023, 2023
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This study uses in situ aircraft measurements to characterize the size and shape distributions of 10 µm to 6 mm diameter particles observed during six penetrations of wildfire-induced pyroconvection. Particles sampled in one penetration of a smoke plume are most likely pyrometeors composed of ash. The other penetrations are through pyrocumulus clouds where particle composition is most likely a combination of hydrometeors (ice particles) and pyrometeors (ash).
Julie Thérèse Pasquier, Jan Henneberger, Fabiola Ramelli, Annika Lauber, Robert Oscar David, Jörg Wieder, Tim Carlsen, Rosa Gierens, Marion Maturilli, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15579–15601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, 2022
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It is important to understand how ice crystals and cloud droplets form in clouds, as their concentrations and sizes determine the exact radiative properties of the clouds. Normally, ice crystals form from aerosols, but we found evidence for the formation of additional ice crystals from the original ones over a large temperature range within Arctic clouds. In particular, additional ice crystals were formed during collisions of several ice crystals or during the freezing of large cloud droplets.
Layrson J. M. Gonçalves, Simone M. S. C. Coelho, Paulo Y. Kubota, and Dayana C. Souza
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15509–15526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15509-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15509-2022, 2022
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This research aims to study the environmental conditions that are favorable and not favorable to cloud formation, in this case specifically for the Amazon region. The results found in this research will be used to improve the representation of clouds in numerical models that are used in weather and climate prediction. In general, it is expected that with better knowledge regarding the cloud–radiation interaction, it is possible to make a better forecast of weather and climate.
Claudia Mignani, Lukas Zimmermann, Rigel Kivi, Alexis Berne, and Franz Conen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13551–13568, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13551-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13551-2022, 2022
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We determined over the course of 8 winter months the phase of clouds associated with snowfall in Northern Finland using radiosondes and observations of ice particle habits at ground level. We found that precipitating clouds were extending from near ground to at least 2.7 km altitude and approximately three-quarters of them were likely glaciated. Possible moisture sources and ice formation processes are discussed.
Alexei Korolev, Paul J. DeMott, Ivan Heckman, Mengistu Wolde, Earle Williams, David J. Smalley, and Michael F. Donovan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13103–13113, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13103-2022, 2022
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The present study provides the first explicit in situ observation of secondary ice production at temperatures as low as −27 °C, which is well outside the range of the Hallett–Mossop process (−3 to −8 °C). This observation expands our knowledge of the temperature range of initiation of secondary ice in clouds. The obtained results are intended to stimulate laboratory and theoretical studies to develop physically based parameterizations for weather prediction and climate models.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, Michael R. Poellot, David J. Delene, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12923–12943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, 2022
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The ability of NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites to retrieve cloud properties and estimate the changes in cloud properties due to aerosol–cloud interactions (ACI) was examined. There was good agreement between satellite retrievals and in situ measurements over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. This suggests that, combined with information on aerosol properties, satellite retrievals of cloud properties can be used to study ACI over larger domains and longer timescales in the absence of in situ data.
Étienne Vignon, Lea Raillard, Christophe Genthon, Massimo Del Guasta, Andrew J. Heymsfield, Jean-Baptiste Madeleine, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12857–12872, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12857-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12857-2022, 2022
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The near-surface atmosphere over the Antarctic Plateau is cold and pristine and resembles to a certain extent the high troposphere where cirrus clouds form. In this study, we use innovative humidity measurements at Concordia Station to study the formation of ice fogs at temperatures <−40°C. We provide observational evidence that ice fogs can form through the homogeneous freezing of solution aerosols, a common nucleation pathway for cirrus clouds.
Jan H. Schween, Camilo del Rio, Juan-Luis García, Pablo Osses, Sarah Westbrook, and Ulrich Löhnert
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12241–12267, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12241-2022, 2022
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Marine stratocumulus clouds of the eastern Pacific play an essential role in the Earth's climate. These clouds form the major source of water to parts of the extreme dry Atacama Desert at the northern coast of Chile. For the first time these clouds are observed over a whole year with three remote sensing instruments. It is shown how these clouds are influenced by the land–sea wind system and the distribution of ocean temperatures.
Marie Mazoyer, Frédéric Burnet, and Cyrielle Denjean
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11305–11321, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11305-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11305-2022, 2022
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The evolution of the droplet size distribution during the fog life cycle remains poorly understood and progress is required to reduce the uncertainty of fog forecasts. To gain insights into the physical processes driving the microphysics, intensive field campaigns were conducted during three winters at the SIRTA site in the south of Paris. This study analyzed the variations in fog microphysical properties and their potential interactions at the different evolutionary stages of the fog events.
Xianda Gong, Martin Radenz, Heike Wex, Patric Seifert, Farnoush Ataei, Silvia Henning, Holger Baars, Boris Barja, Albert Ansmann, and Frank Stratmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10505–10525, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10505-2022, 2022
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The sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are poorly understood in the Southern Hemisphere (SH). We studied INPs in the boundary layer in the southern Patagonia region. No seasonal cycle of INP concentrations was observed. The majority of INPs are biogenic particles, likely from local continental sources. The INP concentrations are higher when strong precipitation occurs. While previous studies focused on marine INP sources in SH, we point out the importance of continental sources of INPs.
Jörg Wieder, Nikola Ihn, Claudia Mignani, Moritz Haarig, Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9767–9797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, 2022
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Ice formation and its evolution in mixed-phase clouds are still uncertain. We evaluate the lidar retrieval of ice-nucleating particle concentration in dust-dominated and continental air masses over the Swiss Alps with in situ observations. A calibration factor to improve the retrieval from continental air masses is proposed. Ice multiplication factors are obtained with a new method utilizing remote sensing. Our results indicate that secondary ice production occurs at temperatures down to −30 °C.
Saleem Ali, Sanjay Kumar Mehta, Aravindhavel Ananthavel, and Tondapu Venkata Ramesh Reddy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8321–8342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8321-2022, 2022
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Multiple cirrus clouds frequently occur over regions of deep convection in the tropics. Tropical convection has a strong diurnal pattern, with peaks in the afternoon to early evening, over the continents. Continuous micropulse lidar observations over a coastal station in the Indian monsoon region enable us, for the first time, to demonstrate a robust diurnal pattern of single and multiple cirrus occurrences, with peaks during the late afternoon and early morning hours, respectively.
Ivana Kolmašová, Ondřej Santolík, Jakub Šlegl, Jana Popová, Zbyněk Sokol, Petr Zacharov, Ondřej Ploc, Gerhard Diendorfer, Ronald Langer, Radek Lán, and Igor Strhárský
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7959–7973, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7959-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7959-2022, 2022
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Gamma ray radiation related to thunderstorms was previously observed at the high-altitude mountain observatories or on the western coast of Japan, usually being terminated by lightning discharges. We show unusual observations of gamma rays at an altitude below 1000 m, coinciding with peculiar rapid variations in the vertical electric field, which are linked to inverted intracloud lightning discharges. This indicates that a strong, lower positive-charge region was present inside the thundercloud.
Cuiqi Zhang, Zhijun Wu, Jingchuan Chen, Jie Chen, Lizi Tang, Wenfei Zhu, Xiangyu Pei, Shiyi Chen, Ping Tian, Song Guo, Limin Zeng, Min Hu, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7539–7556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, 2022
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The immersion ice nucleation effectiveness of aerosols from multiple sources in the urban environment remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that the immersion ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentration increased dramatically during a dust event in an urban atmosphere. Pollutant aerosols, including inorganic salts formed through secondary transformation (SIA) and black carbon (BC), might not act as effective INPs under mixed-phase cloud conditions.
Fritz Waitz, Martin Schnaiter, Thomas Leisner, and Emma Järvinen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7087–7103, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7087-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7087-2022, 2022
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Riming, i.e., the accretion of small droplets on the surface of ice particles via collision, is one of the major uncertainties in model prediction of mixed-phase clouds. We discuss the occurrence (up to 50% of particles) and aging of rimed ice particles and show correlations of the occurrence and the degree of riming with ambient meteorological parameters using data gathered by the Particle Habit Imaging and Polar Scattering (PHIPS) probe during three airborne in situ field campaigns.
Zoé Brasseur, Dimitri Castarède, Erik S. Thomson, Michael P. Adams, Saskia Drossaart van Dusseldorp, Paavo Heikkilä, Kimmo Korhonen, Janne Lampilahti, Mikhail Paramonov, Julia Schneider, Franziska Vogel, Yusheng Wu, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Nina S. Atanasova, Dennis H. Bamford, Barbara Bertozzi, Matthew Boyer, David Brus, Martin I. Daily, Romy Fösig, Ellen Gute, Alexander D. Harrison, Paula Hietala, Kristina Höhler, Zamin A. Kanji, Jorma Keskinen, Larissa Lacher, Markus Lampimäki, Janne Levula, Antti Manninen, Jens Nadolny, Maija Peltola, Grace C. E. Porter, Pyry Poutanen, Ulrike Proske, Tobias Schorr, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, János Stenszky, Annele Virtanen, Dmitri Moisseev, Markku Kulmala, Benjamin J. Murray, Tuukka Petäjä, Ottmar Möhler, and Jonathan Duplissy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5117–5145, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, 2022
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The present measurement report introduces the ice nucleation campaign organized in Hyytiälä, Finland, in 2018 (HyICE-2018). We provide an overview of the campaign settings, and we describe the measurement infrastructure and operating procedures used. In addition, we use results from ice nucleation instrument inter-comparison to show that the suite of these instruments deployed during the campaign reports consistent results.
Kevin J. Sanchez, Bo Zhang, Hongyu Liu, Matthew D. Brown, Ewan C. Crosbie, Francesca Gallo, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, Carolyn E. Jordan, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Georges Saliba, Savannah L. Lewis, Lynn M. Russell, Patricia K. Quinn, Timothy S. Bates, Jack Porter, Thomas G. Bell, Peter Gaube, Eric S. Saltzman, Michael J. Behrenfeld, and Richard H. Moore
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2795–2815, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2795-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2795-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric particle concentrations impact clouds, which strongly impact the amount of sunlight reflected back into space and the overall climate. Measurements of particles over the ocean are rare and expensive to collect, so models are necessary to fill in the gaps by simulating both particle and clouds. However, some measurements are needed to test the accuracy of the models. Here, we measure changes in particles in different weather conditions, which are ideal for comparison with models.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, Michael R. Poellot, David J. Delene, Rose M. Miller, and Jennifer D. Small Griswold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2769–2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2769-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2769-2022, 2022
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This study evaluates the impact of biomass burning aerosols on precipitation in marine stratocumulus clouds using observations from the NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign over the Southeast Atlantic. Instances of contact and separation between aerosol and cloud layers show polluted clouds have a lower precipitation rate and a lower precipitation susceptibility. This information will help improve cloud representation in Earth system models.
Anna E. Luebke, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, Kevin Wolf, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2727–2744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2727-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2727-2022, 2022
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A combination of aircraft and satellite observations is used to show how the characteristics of tropical shallow clouds interact with incoming and outgoing energy. A complete depiction of these clouds is challenging to obtain, but such data are useful for understanding how models can correctly represent them. The amount of cloud is found to be the most important factor, while other cloud characteristics become increasingly impactful when more cloud is present.
Graciela B. Raga, Darrel Baumgardner, Blanca Rios, Yanet Díaz-Esteban, Alejandro Jaramillo, Martin Gallagher, Bastien Sauvage, Pawel Wolff, and Gary Lloyd
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2269–2292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2269-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2269-2022, 2022
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The In-Service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) is a small fleet of commercial aircraft that carry a suite of meteorological, gas, aerosol, and cloud sensors and have been measuring worldwide for almost 9 years, since late 2011. Extreme ice events (EIEs) have been identified from the IAGOS cloud measurements and linked to surface emissions for biomass and fossil fuel consumption. The results reported here are highly relevant for climate change and flight operations forecasting.
Carolina Viceto, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Annette Rinke, Marion Maturilli, Alfredo Rocha, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 441–463, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-441-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-441-2022, 2022
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We focus on anomalous moisture transport events known as atmospheric rivers (ARs). During ACLOUD and PASCAL, three AR events were identified: 30 May, 6 June, and 9 June 2017. We explore their spatio-temporal evolution and precipitation patterns using measurements, reanalyses, and a model. We show the importance of the following: Atlantic and Siberian pathways during spring–summer in the Arctic, AR-associated heat/moisture increase, precipitation phase transition, and high-resolution datasets.
Sandra Vázquez-Martín, Thomas Kuhn, and Salomon Eliasson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18669–18688, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18669-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18669-2021, 2021
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High-resolution top- and side-view images of snow ice particles taken by the D-ICI instrument are used to determine the shape; size; cross-sectional area; fall speed; and, based upon these properties, the mass of the individual snow particles. The study analyses the relationships between these fundamental properties as a function of particle shape and highlights that the choice of size parameter, maximum dimension or another characteristic length, is crucial when relating fall speed to mass.
Elvis Torres-Delgado, Darrel Baumgardner, and Olga L. Mayol-Bracero
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18011–18027, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18011-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18011-2021, 2021
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African dust aerosols can travel thousands of kilometers and reach the Caribbean and other places, where they can serve as ice and cloud condensation nuclei and alter precipitation patterns. Cloud microphysical properties (droplet number and size) were measured in a Caribbean tropical montane cloud forest along with models and satellite products. The results of the study suggest that meteorology and air mass history are more important for cloud processes than aerosols transported from Africa.
Irini Tsiodra, Georgios Grivas, Kalliopi Tavernaraki, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Maria Apostolaki, Despina Paraskevopoulou, Alexandra Gogou, Constantine Parinos, Konstantina Oikonomou, Maria Tsagkaraki, Pavlos Zarmpas, Athanasios Nenes, and Nikolaos Mihalopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17865–17883, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17865-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17865-2021, 2021
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We analyze observations from year-long measurements at Athens, Greece. Nighttime wintertime PAH levels are 4 times higher than daytime, and wintertime values are 15 times higher than summertime. Biomass burning aerosol during wintertime pollution events is responsible for these significant wintertime enhancements and accounts for 43 % of the population exposure to PAH carcinogenic risk. Biomass burning poses additional health risks beyond those associated with the high PM levels that develop.
Tiziana Bräuer, Christiane Voigt, Daniel Sauer, Stefan Kaufmann, Valerian Hahn, Monika Scheibe, Hans Schlager, Felix Huber, Patrick Le Clercq, Richard H. Moore, and Bruce E. Anderson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16817–16826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16817-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16817-2021, 2021
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Over half of aviation climate impact is caused by contrails. Biofuels can reduce the ice crystal numbers in contrails and mitigate the climate impact. The experiment ECLIF II/NDMAX in 2018 assessed the effects of biofuels on contrails and aviation emissions. The NASA DC-8 aircraft performed measurements inside the contrail of the DLR A320. One reference fuel and two blends of the biofuel HEFA and kerosene are analysed. We find a max reduction of contrail ice numbers through biofuel use of 40 %.
Yue Sun and Chuanfeng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16555–16574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16555-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16555-2021, 2021
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Using high-resolution multi-year warm season data, the influence of aerosol on precipitation time over the North China Plain (NCP), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD) is investigated. Aerosol amount and type have significant influence on precipitation time: precipitation start time is advanced by 3 h in the NCP, delayed 2 h in the PRD, and negligibly changed in the YRD. Aerosol impact on precipitation is also influenced by precipitation type and meteorological conditions.
Oscar Javier Rojas Muñoz, Marjolaine Chiriaco, Sophie Bastin, and Justine Ringard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15699–15723, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15699-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15699-2021, 2021
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A method is developed and evaluated to quantify each process that affects hourly 2 m temperature variations on a local scale, based almost exclusively on observations retrieved from an observatory near the Paris region. Each term involved in surface temperature variations is estimated, and its contribution and importance are also assessed. It is found that clouds are the main modulator on hourly temperature variations for most hours of the day, and thus their characterization is addressed.
Michael P. Jensen, Virendra P. Ghate, Dié Wang, Diana K. Apoznanski, Mary J. Bartholomew, Scott E. Giangrande, Karen L. Johnson, and Mandana M. Thieman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14557–14571, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021, 2021
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This work compares the large-scale meteorology, cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and thermodynamics of closed- and open-cell cloud organizations using long-term observations from the astern North Atlantic. Open-cell cases are associated with cold-air outbreaks and occur in deeper boundary layers, with stronger winds and higher rain rates compared to closed-cell cases. These results offer important benchmarks for model representation of boundary layer clouds in this climatically important region.
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Short summary
Airbus measurements at elevations circa 11 km within large storm systems near Darwin and Santiago indicate ice mass distributed over area-equivalent diameters of 100-500 µm. Profiler-observed radar reflectivity and mean Doppler velocity under similar conditions are found to be consistent with measurements and with 1D simulations of steady-state stratiform rain columns initialized with observed ice size distributions. Results motivate investigation of ice formation pathways in Part II.
Airbus measurements at elevations circa 11 km within large storm systems near Darwin and...
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