Articles | Volume 16, issue 11
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7317–7333, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7317-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7317–7333, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7317-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article 13 Jun 2016
Research article | 13 Jun 2016
Simulated 2050 aviation radiative forcing from contrails and aerosols
Chih-Chieh Chen and Andrew Gettelman
Related authors
Andrew Gettelman, Chieh-Chieh Chen, and Charles G. Bardeen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9405–9416, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant economic disruption in 2020 and severely impacted air traffic. We use a climate model to evaluate the effect of the reductions in aviation on climate in 2020. Contrails, in general, warm the planet, and COVID-19-related reductions in contrails cooled the land surface in 2020. The timing of reductions in aviation was important, and this may change how we think about the future effects of contrails.
Neal Butchart, James A. Anstey, Kevin Hamilton, Scott Osprey, Charles McLandress, Andrew C. Bushell, Yoshio Kawatani, Young-Ha Kim, Francois Lott, John Scinocca, Timothy N. Stockdale, Martin Andrews, Omar Bellprat, Peter Braesicke, Chiara Cagnazzo, Chih-Chieh Chen, Hye-Yeong Chun, Mikhail Dobrynin, Rolando R. Garcia, Javier Garcia-Serrano, Lesley J. Gray, Laura Holt, Tobias Kerzenmacher, Hiroaki Naoe, Holger Pohlmann, Jadwiga H. Richter, Adam A. Scaife, Verena Schenzinger, Federico Serva, Stefan Versick, Shingo Watanabe, Kohei Yoshida, and Seiji Yukimoto
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1009–1032, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1009-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1009-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper documents the numerical experiments to be used in phase 1 of the Stratosphere–troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) Quasi-Biennial Oscillation initiative (QBOi), which was set up to improve the representation of the QBO and tropical stratospheric variability in global climate models.
Peter A. Bogenschutz, Andrew Gettelman, Cecile Hannay, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. Neale, Cheryl Craig, and Chih-Chieh Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 235–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-235-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-235-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper compares results of developmental versions of a widely used climate model. The simulations only differ in the choice of how to model the sub-grid-scale physics in the atmospheric model. This work is novel because it is the first time that a particular physics option has been tested in a fully coupled climate model. Here, we demonstrate that this physics option has the ability to produce credible coupled climate simulations, with improved metrics in certain fields.
Andrew Gettelman, Chih-Chieh Chen, Mark Z. Jacobson, Mary A. Cameron, Donald J. Wuebbles, and Arezoo Khodayari
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-218, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Aviation emissions create several impacts on climate. Condensation trails (contrails) are aviation produced cirrus clouds. Aircraft also emit aerosols, including soot (black carbon) and sulfate. Analyses of the climate effects of 2050 aviation emissions have been conducted with two coupled Chemistry Climate Models (CCMs) including experiments with coupled ocean models.
K. Thayer-Calder, A. Gettelman, C. Craig, S. Goldhaber, P. A. Bogenschutz, C.-C. Chen, H. Morrison, J. Höft, E. Raut, B. M. Griffin, J. K. Weber, V. E. Larson, M. C. Wyant, M. Wang, Z. Guo, and S. J. Ghan
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3801–3821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3801-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3801-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates a unified cloud parameterization and a Monte Carlo microphysics interface that is implemented in CAM v5.3. We show mean climate and tropical variability results from global simulations. The model has a degradation in precipitation skill but improvements in shortwave cloud forcing, liquid water path, long-wave cloud forcing, precipitable water, and tropical wave simulation. We also show estimation of computational expense and sensitivity to number of subcolumns.
A. Khodayari, S. Tilmes, S. C. Olsen, D. B. Phoenix, D. J. Wuebbles, J.-F. Lamarque, and C.-C. Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9925–9939, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9925-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9925-2014, 2014
C.-C. Chen and A. Gettelman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12525–12536, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12525-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12525-2013, 2013
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard Neale, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, Stephen A. Klein, Mark D. Zelinka, Yuying Zhang, Yun Qian, Jin-Ho Yoon, Christopher R. Jones, Meng Huang, Sheng-Lun Tai, Balwinder Singh, Peter A. Bogenschutz, Xue Zheng, Wuyin Lin, Johannes Quaas, Hélène Chepfer, Michael A. Brunke, Xubin Zeng, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Samson Hagos, Zhibo Zhang, Hua Song, Xiaohong Liu, Hui Wan, Jingyu Wang, Qi Tang, Peter M. Caldwell, Jiwen Fan, Larry K. Berg, Jerome D. Fast, Mark A. Taylor, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Shaocheng Xie, Philip J. Rasch, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-298, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-298, 2021
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
We developed alternative parameters settings for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1. We study the impact of parameter changes on the fidelity of model climate, and implications for climate change studies. The recalibration reduces common and longstanding biases across cloud regimes in the model and produces weaker aerosol-cloud interactions and cloud feedbacks.
Ka Ming Fung, Colette L. Heald, Jesse H. Kroll, Siyuan Wang, Duseong S. Jo, Andrew Gettelman, Zheng Lu, Xiaohong Liu, Rahul A. Zaveri, Eric Apel, Donald R. Blake, Jose-Luis Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Patrick Veres, Timothy S. Bates, John E. Shilling, and Maria Zawadowicz
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-782, 2021
Preprint under review for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding the natural aerosol burden in the pre-industrial is crucial for us to assess how atmospheric aerosols affect the Earth's radiative budgets. Our study explores how a detailed description of DMS oxidation (implemented in an atmospheric model named CAM6-chem) could help us better estimate the present-day and pre-industrial concentrations of sulfate and other relevant chemicals as well as the resulting aerosol radiative impacts.
Matthew Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel McCoy, Daniel McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-559, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-559, 2021
Preprint under review for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
Andrew Gettelman, Chieh-Chieh Chen, and Charles G. Bardeen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9405–9416, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant economic disruption in 2020 and severely impacted air traffic. We use a climate model to evaluate the effect of the reductions in aviation on climate in 2020. Contrails, in general, warm the planet, and COVID-19-related reductions in contrails cooled the land surface in 2020. The timing of reductions in aviation was important, and this may change how we think about the future effects of contrails.
Edward Gryspeerdt, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Andrew Gettelman, Florent F. Malavelle, Hugh Morrison, David Neubauer, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, Toshihiko Takemura, Hailong Wang, Minghuai Wang, and Kai Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 613–623, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-613-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-613-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol radiative forcing is a key uncertainty in our understanding of the human forcing of the climate, with much of this uncertainty coming from aerosol impacts on clouds. Observation-based estimates of the radiative forcing are typically smaller than those from global models, but it is not clear if they are more reliable. This work shows how the forcing components in global climate models can be identified, highlighting similarities between the two methods and areas for future investigation.
Lei Lin, Andrew Gettelman, Yangyang Xu, Chenglai Wu, Zhili Wang, Nan Rosenbloom, Susan C. Bates, and Wenjie Dong
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3773–3793, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3773-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3773-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Here we evaluate the performance of the Community Atmosphere Model version 6 (CAM6) released in 2018, with the default 1º horizontal resolution and a higher-resolution simulation (approximately 0.25º), against various precipitation observational datasets over Asia. With the prognostic treatment of precipitation processes (which is missing in CAM5) and the new microphysics module, CAM6 is able to better simulate climatological mean and extreme precipitation over Asia.
Edward Gryspeerdt, Tom Goren, Odran Sourdeval, Johannes Quaas, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sudhakar Dipu, Claudia Unglaub, Andrew Gettelman, and Matthew Christensen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5331–5347, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5331-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5331-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The liquid water path (LWP) is the strongest control on cloud albedo, such that a small change in LWP can have a large radiative impact. By changing the droplet number concentration (Nd) aerosols may be able to change the LWP, but the sign and magnitude of the effect is unclear. This work uses satellite data to investigate the relationship between Nd and LWP at a global scale and in response to large aerosol perturbations, suggesting that a strong decrease in LWP at high Nd may be overestimated.
Neal Butchart, James A. Anstey, Kevin Hamilton, Scott Osprey, Charles McLandress, Andrew C. Bushell, Yoshio Kawatani, Young-Ha Kim, Francois Lott, John Scinocca, Timothy N. Stockdale, Martin Andrews, Omar Bellprat, Peter Braesicke, Chiara Cagnazzo, Chih-Chieh Chen, Hye-Yeong Chun, Mikhail Dobrynin, Rolando R. Garcia, Javier Garcia-Serrano, Lesley J. Gray, Laura Holt, Tobias Kerzenmacher, Hiroaki Naoe, Holger Pohlmann, Jadwiga H. Richter, Adam A. Scaife, Verena Schenzinger, Federico Serva, Stefan Versick, Shingo Watanabe, Kohei Yoshida, and Seiji Yukimoto
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1009–1032, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1009-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1009-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper documents the numerical experiments to be used in phase 1 of the Stratosphere–troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) Quasi-Biennial Oscillation initiative (QBOi), which was set up to improve the representation of the QBO and tropical stratospheric variability in global climate models.
Peter A. Bogenschutz, Andrew Gettelman, Cecile Hannay, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. Neale, Cheryl Craig, and Chih-Chieh Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 235–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-235-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-235-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper compares results of developmental versions of a widely used climate model. The simulations only differ in the choice of how to model the sub-grid-scale physics in the atmospheric model. This work is novel because it is the first time that a particular physics option has been tested in a fully coupled climate model. Here, we demonstrate that this physics option has the ability to produce credible coupled climate simulations, with improved metrics in certain fields.
Chenglai Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Minghui Diao, Kai Zhang, Andrew Gettelman, Zheng Lu, Joyce E. Penner, and Zhaohui Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4731–4749, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4731-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4731-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study utilizes a novel approach to directly compare the CAM5-simulated cloud macro- and microphysics with the collocated HIPPO observations for the period of 2009 to 2011. The model cannot capture the large spatial variabilities of observed RH, which is responsible for much of the model missing low-level warm clouds. A large portion of the RH bias results from the discrepancy in water vapor. The model underestimates the observed number concentration and ice water content.
Andrew Gettelman, Chih-Chieh Chen, Mark Z. Jacobson, Mary A. Cameron, Donald J. Wuebbles, and Arezoo Khodayari
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-218, 2017
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Aviation emissions create several impacts on climate. Condensation trails (contrails) are aviation produced cirrus clouds. Aircraft also emit aerosols, including soot (black carbon) and sulfate. Analyses of the climate effects of 2050 aviation emissions have been conducted with two coupled Chemistry Climate Models (CCMs) including experiments with coupled ocean models.
Shipeng Zhang, Minghuai Wang, Steven J. Ghan, Aijun Ding, Hailong Wang, Kai Zhang, David Neubauer, Ulrike Lohmann, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Toshihiko Takeamura, Andrew Gettelman, Hugh Morrison, Yunha Lee, Drew T. Shindell, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, Zak Kipling, and Congbin Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2765–2783, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2765-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2765-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The variation of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) in several climate models is investigated across different dynamical regimes. Regimes with strong large-scale ascent are shown to be as important as stratocumulus regimes in studying AIE. AIE over regions with high monthly large-scale surface precipitation rate contributes the most to the total aerosol indirect forcing. These results point to the need to reduce the uncertainty in AIE in different dynamical regimes.
K. Thayer-Calder, A. Gettelman, C. Craig, S. Goldhaber, P. A. Bogenschutz, C.-C. Chen, H. Morrison, J. Höft, E. Raut, B. M. Griffin, J. K. Weber, V. E. Larson, M. C. Wyant, M. Wang, Z. Guo, and S. J. Ghan
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3801–3821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3801-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3801-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates a unified cloud parameterization and a Monte Carlo microphysics interface that is implemented in CAM v5.3. We show mean climate and tropical variability results from global simulations. The model has a degradation in precipitation skill but improvements in shortwave cloud forcing, liquid water path, long-wave cloud forcing, precipitable water, and tropical wave simulation. We also show estimation of computational expense and sensitivity to number of subcolumns.
A. Gettelman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12397–12411, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12397-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12397-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosols affect cloud properties, and the radiative effects of clouds. Human emissions of aerosol particles and precursors may alter the radiative effects of clouds. This is generally a cooling effect that offsets other warming effects of human emissions of gases. Simulating these aerosol effects on clouds are highly dependent on the formulation of the microphysical (cloud droplet scale) processes. This work uses model simulations to show these effects are large, and depend on certain processes.
T. Eidhammer, H. Morrison, A. Bansemer, A. Gettelman, and A. J. Heymsfield
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 10103–10118, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10103-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10103-2014, 2014
A. Khodayari, S. Tilmes, S. C. Olsen, D. B. Phoenix, D. J. Wuebbles, J.-F. Lamarque, and C.-C. Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9925–9939, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9925-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9925-2014, 2014
M. S. Johnston, S. Eliasson, P. Eriksson, R. M. Forbes, A. Gettelman, P. Räisänen, and M. D. Zelinka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8701–8721, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8701-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8701-2014, 2014
D. Barahona, A. Molod, J. Bacmeister, A. Nenes, A. Gettelman, H. Morrison, V. Phillips, and A. Eichmann
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1733–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1733-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1733-2014, 2014
C.-C. Chen and A. Gettelman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12525–12536, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12525-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12525-2013, 2013
A. Gettelman, H. Morrison, C. R. Terai, and R. Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9855–9867, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9855-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9855-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Sensitivity of precipitation formation to secondary ice production in winter orographic mixed-phase clouds
Environmental sensitivities of shallow-cumulus dilution – Part 2: Vertical wind profile
Supersaturation, buoyancy, and deep convection dynamics
Statistical properties of a stochastic model of eddy hopping
Understanding the model representation of clouds based on visible and infrared satellite observations
Impact of high- and low-vorticity turbulence on cloud–environment mixing and cloud microphysics processes
Preconditioning of overcast-to-broken cloud transitions by riming in marine cold air outbreaks
Aitken mode particles as CCN in aerosol- and updraft-sensitive regimes of cloud droplet formation
Impact of hygroscopic seeding on the initiation of precipitation formation: results of a hybrid bin microphysics parcel model
Ice multiplication from ice–ice collisions in the high Arctic: sensitivity to ice habit, rimed fraction, ice type and uncertainties in the numerical description of the process
The climate impact of COVID-19-induced contrail changes
A large-eddy simulation study of deep-convection initiation through the collision of two sea-breeze fronts
Soot PCF: pore condensation and freezing framework for soot aggregates
Air traffic and contrail changes over Europe during COVID-19: a model study
Is a more physical representation of aerosol activation needed for simulations of fog?
Microphysical processes producing high ice water contents (HIWCs) in tropical convective clouds during the HAIC-HIWC field campaign: evaluation of simulations using bulk microphysical schemes
What is Adiabatic Fraction in Cumulus Clouds: High-Resolution Simulations with Passive Tracer
Overview towards improved understanding of the mechanisms leading to heavy precipitation in the Western Mediterranean: lessons learned from HyMeX
Impacts of secondary ice production on Arctic mixed-phase clouds based on ARM observations and CAM6 single-column model simulations
The temperature dependence of ice-nucleating particle concentrations affects the radiative properties of tropical convective cloud systems
Tracking the influence of cloud condensation nuclei on summer diurnal precipitating systems over complex topography in Taiwan
The behavior of high-CAPE (convective available potential energy) summer convection in large-domain large-eddy simulations with ICON
Cloud droplet diffusional growth in homogeneous isotropic turbulence: bin microphysics versus Lagrangian super-droplet simulations
Cloud droplet number closure for tropical convective clouds during the ACRIDICON–CHUVA campaign
The importance of Aitken mode aerosol particles for cloud sustenance in the summertime high Arctic – a simulation study supported by observational data
Mid-latitude mixed-phase stratocumulus clouds and their interactions with aerosols: how ice processes affect microphysical, dynamic and thermodynamic development in those clouds and interactions?
Sensitivity of mixed-phase moderately deep convective clouds to parameterizations of ice formation – an ensemble perspective
Shallow cumulus cloud feedback in large eddy simulations – bridging the gap to storm-resolving models
Impacts of cloud microphysics parameterizations on simulated aerosol–cloud interactions for deep convective clouds over Houston
Cold cloud microphysical process rates in a global chemistry–climate model
Precipitation enhancement in stratocumulus clouds through airborne seeding: sensitivity analysis by UCLALES-SALSA
Secondary ice production in summer clouds over the Antarctic coast: an underappreciated process in atmospheric models
Opinion: Cloud-phase climate feedback and the importance of ice-nucleating particles
On the ice-nucleating potential of warm hydrometeors in mixed-phase clouds
The enhancement of droplet collision by electric charges and atmospheric electric fields
Cloud adjustments dominate the overall negative aerosol radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols in UKESM1 climate model simulations over the south-eastern Atlantic
Dependence of predictability of precipitation in the northwestern Mediterranean coastal region on the strength of synoptic control
The decomposition of cloud–aerosol forcing in the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1)
Sensitivity of warm clouds to large particles in measured marine aerosol size distributions – a theoretical study
Hectometric-scale simulations of a Mediterranean heavy-precipitation event during the Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) first Special Observation Period (SOP1)
Urbanization-induced land and aerosol impacts on sea-breeze circulation and convective precipitation
Snow-induced buffering in aerosol–cloud interactions
Environmental sensitivities of shallow-cumulus dilution – Part 1: Selected thermodynamic conditions
Employing airborne radiation and cloud microphysics observations to improve cloud representation in ICON at kilometer-scale resolution in the Arctic
An idealized model sensitivity study on Dead Sea desertification with a focus on the impact on convection
Modelling mixed-phase clouds with the large-eddy model UCLALES–SALSA
Development of aerosol activation in the double-moment Unified Model and evaluation with CLARIFY measurements
Size dependence in chord characteristics from simulated and observed continental shallow cumulus
Impact of aerosols and turbulence on cloud droplet growth: an in-cloud seeding case study using a parcel–DNS (direct numerical simulation) approach
Diffusional growth of cloud droplets in homogeneous isotropic turbulence: DNS, scaled-up DNS, and stochastic model
Zane Dedekind, Annika Lauber, Sylvaine Ferrachat, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15115–15134, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15115-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15115-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The RACLETS campaign combined cloud and snow research to improve the understanding of precipitation formation in clouds. A numerical weather prediction model, COSMO, was used to assess the importance of ice crystal enhancement by ice–ice collisions for cloud properties. We found that the number of ice crystals increased by 1 to 3 orders of magnitude when ice–ice collisions were permitted to occur, reducing localized regions of high precipitation and, thereby, improving the model performance.
Sonja Drueke, Daniel J. Kirshbaum, and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14039–14058, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14039-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14039-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This numerical study provides insights into the sensitivity of shallow-cumulus dilution to geostrophic vertical wind profile. The cumulus dilution is strongly sensitive to vertical wind shear in the cloud layer, with shallow cumuli being more diluted in sheared environments. On the other hand, wind shear in the subcloud layer leads to less diluted cumuli. The sensitivities are explained by jointly considering the impacts of vertical velocity and the properties of the entrained air.
Wojciech W. Grabowski and Hugh Morrison
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13997–14018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13997-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13997-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The paper provides a discussion of key elements of moist convective dynamics: cloud buoyancy, latent heating, precipitation, and entrainment. The motivation comes from recent discussions concerning differences in convective dynamics in polluted and pristine environments.
Izumi Saito, Takeshi Watanabe, and Toshiyuki Gotoh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13119–13130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13119-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13119-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We provide various statistical properties for the stochastic model
of eddy hopping, which is a novel cloud microphysical model that
accounts for the effect of the supersaturation fluctuation at unresolved
scales on the growth of cloud droplets and on spectral broadening
in a turbulent cloud. Our results indicate that the model can be
improved to have better fidelity to the reference data and to require
less computational cost.
Stefan Geiss, Leonhard Scheck, Alberto de Lozar, and Martin Weissmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12273–12290, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12273-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12273-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study demonstrates the benefits of using both visible and infrared satellite channels to evaluate clouds in numerical weather prediction models. Combining these highly resolved observations provides significantly more and complementary information than using only infrared observations. The visible observations are particularly sensitive to subgrid water clouds, which are not well constrained by other observations.
Bipin Kumar, Rahul Ranjan, Man-Kong Yau, Sudarsan Bera, and Suryachandra A. Rao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12317–12329, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12317-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12317-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The characteristics of turbulent clouds are affected by the entrainment of ambient dry air and its subsequent mixing. A turbulent flow generates vorticities of different intensities, and regions with high vorticity (HV) and low vorticity (LV) exist. This study provides a detailed analysis of different properties of turbulent flows and cloud droplets in the HV and LV regions in order to understand the impact of vorticity production on cloud microphysical and mixing processes.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Mira L. Pöhlker, Minghui Zhang, Ramon Campos Braga, Ovid O. Krüger, Ulrich Pöschl, and Barbara Ervens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11723–11740, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11723-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11723-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds cool our atmosphere. The role of small aerosol particles in affecting them represents one of the largest uncertainties in current estimates of climate change. Traditionally it is assumed that cloud droplets only form particles of diameters ~ 100 nm (
accumulation mode). Previous studies suggest that this can also occur in smaller particles (
Aitken mode). Our study provides a general framework to estimate under which aerosol and cloud conditions Aitken mode particles affect clouds.
Istvan Geresdi, Lulin Xue, Sisi Chen, Youssef Wehbe, Roelof Bruintjes, Jared Lee, Roy Rasmussen, Wojciech Grabowski, Noemi Sarkadi, and Sarah Tessendorf
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-506, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-506, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
By releasing soluble aerosols into the convective clouds, cloud seeding potentially enhances rainfall. The seeding impacts are hard to quantify with observations only. Numerical models that represent the detailed physics of aerosols, cloud and rain formation are used to investigate the seeding impacts on rain enhancement under different natural aerosol backgrounds and using different seeding materials. Our results indicate that seeding may enhance rainfall under certain conditions.
Georgia Sotiropoulou, Luisa Ickes, Athanasios Nenes, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9741–9760, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9741-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9741-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Mixed-phase clouds are a large source of uncertainty in projections of the Arctic climate. This is partly due to the poor representation of the cloud ice formation processes. Implementing a parameterization for ice multiplication due to mechanical breakup upon collision of two ice particles in a high-resolution model improves cloud ice phase representation; however, cloud liquid remains overestimated.
Andrew Gettelman, Chieh-Chieh Chen, and Charles G. Bardeen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9405–9416, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9405-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant economic disruption in 2020 and severely impacted air traffic. We use a climate model to evaluate the effect of the reductions in aviation on climate in 2020. Contrails, in general, warm the planet, and COVID-19-related reductions in contrails cooled the land surface in 2020. The timing of reductions in aviation was important, and this may change how we think about the future effects of contrails.
Shizuo Fu, Richard Rotunno, Jinghua Chen, Xin Deng, and Huiwen Xue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9289–9308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9289-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9289-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Deep-convection initiation (DCI) determines when and where deep convection develops and hence affects both weather and climate. However, our understanding of DCI is still limited. Here, we simulate DCI over a peninsula using large-eddy simulation and high-output frequency. We find that DCI is accomplished through the development of multiple generations of convection, and the earlier generation affects the later generation by producing downdrafts and cold pools.
Claudia Marcolli, Fabian Mahrt, and Bernd Kärcher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7791–7843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7791-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7791-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Pores are aerosol particle features that trigger ice nucleation, as they take up water by capillary condensation below water saturation that freezes at low temperatures. The pore ice can then grow into macroscopic ice crystals making up cirrus clouds. Here, we investigate the pores in soot aggregates responsible for pore condensation and freezing (PCF). Moreover, we present a framework to parameterize soot PCF that is able to predict the ice nucleation activity based on soot properties.
Ulrich Schumann, Ian Poll, Roger Teoh, Rainer Koelle, Enrico Spinielli, Jarlath Molloy, George S. Koudis, Robert Baumann, Luca Bugliaro, Marc Stettler, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7429–7450, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7429-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The roughly 70 % reduction of air traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic from March–August 2020 compared to 2019 provides a test case for the relationship between air traffic density, contrails, and their radiative forcing of climate change. This paper investigates the induced traffic and contrail changes in a model study. Besides strong weather changes, the model results indicate aviation-induced cirrus and top-of-the-atmosphere irradiance changes, which can be tested with observations.
Craig Poku, Andrew N. Ross, Adrian A. Hill, Alan M. Blyth, and Ben Shipway
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7271–7292, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7271-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7271-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new aerosol activation scheme suitable for modelling both fog and convective clouds. Most current activation schemes are designed for convective clouds, and we demonstrate that using them to model fog can negatively impact its life cycle. Our scheme has been used to model an observed fog case in the UK, where we demonstrate that a more physically based representation of aerosol activation is required to capture the transition to a deeper layer – more in line with observations.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Eshkol Eytan, Ilan Koren, Orit Altaratz, Mark Pinsky, and Alexander Khain
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-334, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-334, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
The adiabatic fraction of cloudy volumes is an important and commonly used variable, as mixing is still an open question in cloud physics. High-resolution simulations of single clouds with a passive tracer are used to test the accuracy of the different methods that were used in previous studies to calculate the adiabatic fraction. The results emphasize the limitation of adiabatic fraction and the errors that are introduced with different assumptions under some environmental conditions.
Samira Khodayar, Silvio Davolio, Paolo Di Girolamo, Cindy Lebeaupin Brossier, Emmanouil Flaounas, Nadia Fourrie, Keun-Ok Lee, Didier Ricard, Benoit Vie, Francois Bouttier, Alberto Caldas-Alvarez, and Veronique Ducrocq
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-350, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-350, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
Heavy precipitation (HP) constitutes a major meteorological threat in the western Mediterranean. Every year, recurrent events affect the area with fatal consequences. Despite this being a well-known issue, still open questions remain. The understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the modelling representation of the events must be improved. In this article we present the most recent lessons learned from the Hydrological cYcle in the Mediterranean eXperiment (HyMeX).
Xi Zhao, Xiaohong Liu, Vaughan T. J. Phillips, and Sachin Patade
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5685–5703, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5685-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5685-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Arctic mixed-phase clouds significantly influence the energy budget of the Arctic. We show that a climate model considering secondary ice production (SIP) can explain the observed cloud ice number concentrations, vertical distribution pattern, and probability density distribution of ice crystal number concentrations. The mixed-phase cloud occurrence and phase partitioning are also improved.
Rachel E. Hawker, Annette K. Miltenberger, Jonathan M. Wilkinson, Adrian A. Hill, Ben J. Shipway, Zhiqiang Cui, Richard J. Cotton, Ken S. Carslaw, Paul R. Field, and Benjamin J. Murray
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5439–5461, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5439-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5439-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of aerosols on clouds is a large source of uncertainty for future climate projections. Our results show that the radiative properties of a complex convective cloud field in the Saharan outflow region are sensitive to the temperature dependence of ice-nucleating particle concentrations. This means that differences in the aerosol source or composition, for the same aerosol size distribution, can cause differences in the outgoing radiation from regions dominated by tropical convection.
Yu-Hung Chang, Wei-Ting Chen, Chien-Ming Wu, Chistopher Moseley, and Chia-Chun Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-113, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-113, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
The impacts of increasing cloud condensation nuclei on the summertime diurnal precipitation under weak synoptic weather regime over complex topography in Taiwan were investigated, by applying object-based tracking analyses to the semi-realistic large-eddy simulations. Our results highlight that, for convective clouds that are locked by topography, precipitation initiation is postponed significantly, and the occurrence of cloud objects with extreme maximum rain rates doubles.
Harald Rybka, Ulrike Burkhardt, Martin Köhler, Ioanna Arka, Luca Bugliaro, Ulrich Görsdorf, Ákos Horváth, Catrin I. Meyer, Jens Reichardt, Axel Seifert, and Johan Strandgren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4285–4318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4285-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4285-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating the impact of convection on the upper-tropospheric water budget remains a problem for models employing resolutions of several kilometers or more. A sub-kilometer high-resolution model is used to study summertime convection. The results suggest mostly close agreement with ground- and satellite-based observational data while slightly overestimating total frozen water path and anvil lifetime. The simulations are well suited to supplying information for parameterization development.
Wojciech W. Grabowski and Lois Thomas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4059–4077, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4059-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4059-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a modeling study that investigates the impact of cloud turbulence on the diffusional growth of cloud droplets and compares modeling results to analytic solutions published in the past. The focus is on comparing the two microphysics modeling methodologies – the Eulerian bin microphysics and Lagrangian particle-based microphysics – and exposing their limitations.
Ramon Campos Braga, Barbara Ervens, Daniel Rosenfeld, Meinrat O. Andreae, Jan-David Förster, Daniel Fütterer, Lianet Hernández Pardo, Bruna A. Holanda, Tina Jurkat, Ovid O. Krüger, Oliver Lauer, Luiz A. T. Machado, Christopher Pöhlker, Daniel Sauer, Christiane Voigt, Adrian Walser, Manfred Wendisch, Ulrich Pöschl, and Mira L. Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-80, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-80, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
Interactions of aerosol particles with clouds represent a large uncertainty in estimates of climate change. Properties of aerosol particles control their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei. Using aerosol measurements in the Amazon, we performed model studies to compare predicted and measured cloud droplet number concentrations at cloud bases. Our results confirm previous estimates of particle hygroscopicity in this region.
Ines Bulatovic, Adele L. Igel, Caroline Leck, Jost Heintzenberg, Ilona Riipinen, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3871–3897, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3871-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3871-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use detailed numerical modelling to show that small aerosol particles (diameters ~25–80 nm; so-called Aitken mode particles) significantly influence low-level cloud properties in the clean summertime high Arctic. The small particles can help sustain clouds when the concentration of larger particles is low (<10–20 cm-3). Measurements from four different observational campaigns in the high Arctic support the modelling results as they indicate that Aitken mode aerosols are frequently activated.
Seoung Soo Lee, Kyung-Ja Ha, Manguttathil Gopalakrishnan Manoj, Mohammad Kamruzzaman, Hyungjun Kim, Nobuyuki Utsumi, and Jianping Guo
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-1318, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for ACP
Short summary
Short summary
Using a modeling framework, a mid-latitude stratocumulus-cloud system is simulated. It is found that cloud mass in the system becomes very low due to interactions between ice and liquid particles as compared to that in the absence of ice particles. It is also found that interactions between cloud mass and aerosols lead to a reduction in cloud mass in the system and this is contrary to an aerosol-induced increase in cloud mass in the absence of ice particles.
Annette K. Miltenberger and Paul R. Field
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3627–3642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3627-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3627-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The formation of ice in clouds is an important processes in mixed-phase and ice-phase clouds. However, the representation of ice formation in numerical models is highly uncertain. In the last decade, several new parameterizations for heterogeneous freezing have been proposed. Here, we investigate the impact of the parameterization choice on the representation of the convective cloud field and compare the impact to that of initial condition uncertainty.
Jule Radtke, Thorsten Mauritsen, and Cathy Hohenegger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3275–3288, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3275-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3275-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Shallow trade wind clouds are a key source of uncertainty to projections of the Earth's changing climate. We perform high-resolution simulations of trade cumulus and investigate how the representation and climate feedback of these clouds depend on the specific grid spacing. We find that the cloud feedback is positive when simulated with kilometre but near zero when simulated with hectometre grid spacing. These findings suggest that storm-resolving models may exaggerate the trade cloud feedback.
Yuwei Zhang, Jiwen Fan, Zhanqing Li, and Daniel Rosenfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2363–2381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2363-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2363-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on deep convective clouds (DCCs) and precipitation are examined using both the Morrison bulk and spectral bin microphysics (SBM) schemes. With the SBM scheme, anthropogenic aerosols notably invigorate convective intensity and precipitation, causing better agreement between the simulated DCCs and observations; this effect is absent with the Morrison scheme, mainly due to limitations of the saturation adjustment approach for droplet condensation and evaporation.
Sara Bacer, Sylvia C. Sullivan, Odran Sourdeval, Holger Tost, Jos Lelieveld, and Andrea Pozzer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1485–1505, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1485-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1485-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the relative importance of the rates of both microphysical processes and unphysical correction terms that act as sources or sinks of ice crystals in cold clouds. By means of numerical simulations performed with a global chemistry–climate model, we assess the relevance of these rates at global and regional scales. This estimation is of fundamental importance to assign priority to the development of microphysics parameterizations and compare model output with observations.
Juha Tonttila, Ali Afzalifar, Harri Kokkola, Tomi Raatikainen, Hannele Korhonen, and Sami Romakkaniemi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1035–1048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1035-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1035-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The focus of this study is on rain enhancement by deliberate injection of small particles into clouds (
cloud seeding). The particles, usually released from an aircraft, are expected to enhance cloud droplet growth, but its practical feasibility is somewhat uncertain. To improve upon this, we simulate the seeding effects with a numerical model. The model reproduces the main features seen in field observations, with a strong sensitivity to the total mass of the injected particle material.
Georgia Sotiropoulou, Étienne Vignon, Gillian Young, Hugh Morrison, Sebastian J. O'Shea, Thomas Lachlan-Cope, Alexis Berne, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 755–771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Summer clouds have a significant impact on the radiation budget of the Antarctic surface and thus on ice-shelf melting. However, these are poorly represented in climate models due to errors in their microphysical structure, including the number of ice crystals that they contain. We show that breakup from ice particle collisions can substantially magnify the ice crystal number concentration with significant implications for surface radiation. This process is currently missing in climate models.
Benjamin J. Murray, Kenneth S. Carslaw, and Paul R. Field
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 665–679, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-665-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-665-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The balance between the amounts of ice and supercooled water in clouds over the world's oceans strongly influences how much these clouds can dampen or amplify global warming. Aerosol particles which catalyse ice formation can dramatically reduce the amount of supercooled water in clouds; hence we argue that we need a concerted effort to improve our understanding of these ice-nucleating particles if we are to improve our predictions of climate change.
Michael Krayer, Agathe Chouippe, Markus Uhlmann, Jan Dušek, and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 561–575, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-561-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-561-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We address the phenomenon of ice enhancement in the vicinity of warm hydrometeors using highly accurate flow simulation techniques. It is found that the transiently supersaturated zones induced by the hydrometeor's wake are by far larger than what has been previously estimated. The ice enhancement is quantified on the micro- and macroscale, and its relevance is discussed. The results provided may contribute to a (currently unavailable) parametrization of the phenomenon.
Shian Guo and Huiwen Xue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 69–85, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-69-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-69-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Observations in previous studies show that cloud droplets carry electric charges. We are curious about whether the electric interaction enhances the collision of cloud droplets. The effect of the electric charge and atmospheric electric field on the raindrop-formation process is studied numerically. Results indicate that a cloud with a small droplet size is more sensitive to an electric charge and field, which could significantly trigger droplet collision and accelerate raindrop formation.
Haochi Che, Philip Stier, Hamish Gordon, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Lucia Deaconu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17–33, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The south-eastern Atlantic is semi-permanently covered by some of the largest stratocumulus clouds and is influenced by one-third of the biomass burning emissions from African fires. A UKEMS1 model simulation shows that the absorption effect of biomass burning aerosols is the most significant on clouds and radiation. The dominate cooling and rapid adjustments induced by the radiative effects of biomass burning aerosols result in an overall cooling in the south-eastern Atlantic.
Christian Keil, Lucie Chabert, Olivier Nuissier, and Laure Raynaud
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15851–15865, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15851-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15851-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
During strong synoptic control, which dominates the weather on 80 % of the days in the 2-month HyMeX-SOP1 period, the domain-integrated precipitation predictability assessed with the normalized ensemble standard deviation is above average, the wet bias is smaller and the forecast quality is generally better. In contrast, the spatial forecast quality of the most intense precipitation in the afternoon, as quantified with its 95th percentile, is superior during weakly forced synoptic regimes.
Daniel P. Grosvenor and Kenneth S. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15681–15724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15681-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15681-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Particles arising from human activity interact with clouds and affect how much of the Sun's energy is reflected away. Lack of understanding about how to represent this in models leads to large uncertainties in climate predictions. We quantify cloud responses to particles in the latest UK Met Office climate model over the North Atlantic Ocean, showing that, in contrast to suggestions elsewhere, increases in cloud coverage and thickness are important over large areas.
Tom Dror, J. Michel Flores, Orit Altaratz, Guy Dagan, Zev Levin, Assaf Vardi, and Ilan Koren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15297–15306, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15297-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15297-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We used in situ aerosol measurements over the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific to initialize a cloud model and study the impact of aerosol concentration and sizes on warm clouds. We show that high aerosol concentration increases cloud mass and reduces surface rain when giant particles (diameter > 9 µm) are present. The large aerosols changed the timing and magnitude of internal cloud processes and resulted in an enhanced evaporation below cloud base and dramatically reduced surface rain.
Olivier Nuissier, Fanny Duffourg, Maxime Martinet, Véronique Ducrocq, and Christine Lac
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14649–14667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14649-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14649-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This present article demonstrates how numerical simulations with very high horizontal resolution (150 m) can contribute to better understanding the key physical processes (turbulence and microphysics) that lead to Mediterranean heavy precipitation.
Jiwen Fan, Yuwei Zhang, Zhanqing Li, Jiaxi Hu, and Daniel Rosenfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14163–14182, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14163-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14163-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the urbanization-induced land and aerosol impacts on convective clouds and precipitation over Houston. We find that Houston urbanization notably enhances storm intensity and precipitation, with the anthropogenic aerosol effect more significant. Urban land effect strengthens sea-breeze circulation, leading to a faster development of warm cloud into mixed-phase cloud and earlier rain. The anthropogenic aerosol effect accelerates the development of storms into deep convection.
Takuro Michibata, Kentaroh Suzuki, and Toshihiko Takemura
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13771–13780, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13771-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13771-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This work reveals that prognostic precipitation significantly reduces the magnitude of aerosol–cloud interactions (ERFaci), mainly due to the collection process associated with snowflakes and underlying cloud droplets. This precipitation-driven buffering effect, which is missing in traditional GCMs, can explain the model–observation discrepancy in ERFaci. These results underscore the necessity for a prognostic precipitation framework in GCMs for more reliable climate simulations.
Sonja Drueke, Daniel J. Kirshbaum, and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13217–13239, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13217-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13217-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This numerical study provides insights into selected environmental sensitivities of shallow-cumulus dilution. Among the parameters under consideration, the dilution of the cloud cores is strongly sensitive to continentality and cloud-layer relative humidity and weakly sensitive to subcloud- and cloud-layer depths. The impacts of all four parameters are interpreted using a similarity theory of shallow cumulus and buoyancy-sorting arguments.
Jan Kretzschmar, Johannes Stapf, Daniel Klocke, Manfred Wendisch, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13145–13165, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13145-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13145-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study compares simulations with the ICON model at the kilometer scale to airborne radiation and cloud microphysics observations that have been derived during the ACLOUD aircraft campaign around Svalbard, Norway, in May/June 2017. We find an overestimated surface warming effect of clouds compared to the observations in our setup. This bias was reduced by considering subgrid-scale vertical motion in the activation of cloud condensation nuclei in the two-moment microphysical scheme used.
Samiro Khodayar and Johannes Hoerner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12011–12031, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12011-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12011-2020, 2020
Jaakko Ahola, Hannele Korhonen, Juha Tonttila, Sami Romakkaniemi, Harri Kokkola, and Tomi Raatikainen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11639–11654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11639-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11639-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we present an improved cloud model that reproduces the behaviour of mixed-phase clouds containing liquid droplets and ice crystals in more detail than before. This model is a convenient computational tool that enables the study of phenomena that cannot fit into a laboratory. These clouds have a significant role in climate, but they are not yet properly understood. Here, we show the advantages of the new model in a case study focusing on Arctic mixed-phase clouds.
Hamish Gordon, Paul R. Field, Steven J. Abel, Paul Barrett, Keith Bower, Ian Crawford, Zhiqiang Cui, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Adrian A. Hill, Jonathan Taylor, Jonathan Wilkinson, Huihui Wu, and Ken S. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10997–11024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10997-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10997-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Met Office's Unified Model is widely used both for weather forecasting and climate prediction. We present the first version of the model in which both aerosol and cloud particle mass and number concentrations are allowed to evolve separately and independently, which is important for studying how aerosols affect weather and climate. We test the model against aircraft observations near Ascension Island in the Atlantic, focusing on how aerosols can "activate" to become cloud droplets.
Philipp J. Griewank, Thijs Heus, Neil P. Lareau, and Roel A. J. Neggers
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10211–10230, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10211-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10211-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The idea that larger shallow cumulus clouds have stronger updrafts than small shallow cumulus clouds is as intuitive as it is old. In this paper we gather years of upward-pointing laser measurements from a plain in Oklahoma and combine them with 28 d of high-resolution simulations. Our approach, which has much more data than previous studies, confirms that updraft strength and cloud size are linked and that the simulations reproduce the observed cloud wind and moisture structure.
Sisi Chen, Lulin Xue, and Man-Kong Yau
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10111–10124, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10111-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10111-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study employs a parcel–DNS (direct numerical simulation) modeling framework to accurately resolve the aerosol–droplet–turbulence interactions in an ascending air parcel. The effect of turbulence, aerosol hygroscopicity, and aerosol mass loading on droplet growth and rain formation is investigated through a series of in-cloud seeding experiments in which hygroscopic particles were seeded near the cloud base.
Lois Thomas, Wojciech W. Grabowski, and Bipin Kumar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9087–9100, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9087-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9087-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This work presents an extension of a classical small-scale modeling approach, direct numerical simulation (DNS), to large computational volumes, tens and hundreds of meters on the side. Diffusional growth of cloud droplets is more significantly affected by large scales of turbulent motions because vertical velocity perturbations associated with those scales result in larger and longer-lasting supersaturation perturbations that affect the spread of the droplet spectrum.
Cited articles
Albrecht, B.: Aerosols, cloud microphysics, and fractional cloudiness, Science, 245, 1227–1230, 1989.
Appleman, H.: The formation of exhaust condensation trails by jet aircraft, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 34, 14–20, 1953.
Barrett, S., Britter, R. E., and Waitz, I. A.: Global mortality to aircraft cruise emissions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, 7736–7742, https://doi.org/10.1021/es101325r, 2010a.
Barret, S., Prather, M., Penner, J., Selkirk, H., Balasubramania, S., Dopelheuer, A., Fleming, G., Gupta, M., Halthore, R., Hileman, J., Jacobson, M., Kuhn, S., Lukachko, S., Miake-Lye, R., Petzold, A., Roof, C., Schaefer, M., Schumann, U., Waitz, I., and Wayson, R.: Guidance on the Use of AEDT Gridded aircraft Emissions in Atmospheric Models. MIT Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment Rep. LAE-2010-008-N, 13 pp., available at: http://lae.mit.edu/uploads/LAE_report_series/2010/LAE-2010-008-N.pdf (last access: 20 September 2012), 2010b.
Boucher, O., Randall, D., Artaxo, P., Bretherton, C., Feingold, G., Forster, P., Kerminen, V. M., Kondo, Y., Liao, H., Lohmann, U., Rasch, P., Satheesh, S. K., Sherwood, S., Stevens, B., and Zhang, X. Y.: Clouds and aerosols, in: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group 1 (WG)1 Contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report (AR5), edited by: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M. M. B., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2013.
Brasseur, G. P., Cox, R. A., Hauglustaine, D., Isaksen, I., Lelieveld, J., Lister, D. H., Sausen, R., Schumann, U., Wahner, A., and Wiesen, P.: European scientific assessment of the atmospheric effects of aircraft emissions, Atmos. Environ., 32, 2329–2418, 1998.
Brasseur, G. P., Gupta, M., Anderson, B. E., Balasubramanian, S., Barrett, S., Duda, D., Fleming, G., Fuglestvedt, P. M. J., Gettelman, A., Halthore, R. N., Jacob, S. D., Jacobson, M. C., Khodayari, A., Liou, K.-N., Lund, M. T., Miake-Lye, R. C., Minnis, P., Olsen, S. C., Penner, J. E., Prinn, R., Schumann, U., Selkirk, H. B., Sokolov, A., Unger, N., Wolfe, P., Wong, H.-W., Wuebbles, D. W., Yi, B., Yang, P., and Zhou, C.: Impact of aviation on climate: FAA's Aviation Climate Change Rearch Iinitiative (ACCRI) Phase II, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 97, 561–583, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00089.1, 2015.
Burkhardt, U. and Kärcher, B.: Global radiative forcing from contrail cirrus, Nature, 1, 54–58, https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1068, 2011.
Chen, C.-C. and Gettelman, A.: Simulated radiative forcing from contrails and contrail cirrus, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12525–12536, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12525-2013, 2013.
Chen, C.-C., Gettelman, A., Craig, C., Minnis, P., and Duda, D. P.: Global contail coverage simualted by CAM5 with the inventory of 2006 global aircraft emissions, J. Adv. Model. Earth Syst., 4, M04003, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011MS000105, 2012.
De León, R. R., Krämer, M., Lee, D. S., and Thelen, J. C.: Sensitivity of radiative properties of persistent contrails to the ice water path, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 7893–7901, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-7893-2012, 2012.
DeMott, P. J., Peters, M. D., Prenni, A. J., Carrico, C. M., Kreidenweis, S. M., Collett Jr., J. L., and Moosmüller, H.: Ice nucleation behavior of biomass combustion particles at cirrus temperatures, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D16205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012036, 2009.
Demott, P. J., Prenni, A. J., Liu, X., Kreidenweis, S. M., Petters, M. D., Twohy, C. H., Richardson, M. S., Eidhammer, T., and Rogers, D. C.: Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distribution and their impacts on climate, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107, 11217–11222, 2010.
Dietmüller, S., Ponater, M., Sausen, R., Hoinka, K.-P., and Pechtl, S.: Contrails, natural clouds, and diurnal temperature range, J. Climate, 21, 5061–5075, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2255.1, 2008.
Gettelman, A. and Chen, C.-C.: The climate impact of aviation aerosols, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, L50520, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50520, 2013.
Gettelman, A., Fetzer, E. J., Irion, F. W., and Eldering, A.: The global distribution of supersaturation in the upper troposphere, J. Climate, 19, 6089–6103, 2006.
Gettelman, A., Liu, X., Ghan, S. J., Morrison, H., Park, S., Conley, A. J., Klein, S. A., Boyle, J., Mitchell, D. L., and Li, J.-L.: Global simulations of ice nucleation and ice supersaturation with an improved cloud scheme in the Community Atmosphere Model, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D18216, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD013797, 2010.
Gierens, K., Sausen, R., and Schumann, U.: A diagnostic study of the global distribution of contrails, Part II: Future air traffic scenario, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 63, 1–9, 1999.
Hendricks, J., Kärcher, B., Lohmann, U., and Ponater, M.: Do aircraft black carbon emissions affect cirrus clouds on the global scale?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L12814, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL022740, 2005.
Hendricks, J., Kärcher, B., and Lohmann, U.: Effects of ice nuclei on cirrus clouds in a global climate model, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D18206, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD015302, 2011.
IPCC: Aviation and Global Atmosphere, edited by: Penner, J. E., Lister, D. H., Griggs, D. J., Dokken, D. J., and MacFarland, M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge UK, 373 pp., 1999.
Jacobson, M. Z., Wilkerson, J. T., Naiman, A. D., and Lele, S. K.: The effects of aircraft on climate and pollution. Part I: numerical mehtods for treating the subgrid evolution of discrete size- and composition-resolved contrails from all commercial flights worldwide, 2011, J. Comp. Phys., 230, 5115–5132, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcp.2011.03.031, 2011.
Jacobson, M. Z., Wilkerson, J. T., Naiman, A. D., and Lele, S. K.: The effects of aircraft on climate and pollution. Part II: 20-year impacts of exhaust from all commercial aircraft worldwide treated individually at the subgrid scale, Faraday Discuss., 165, 369–382, https://doi.org/10.1039/C3FD00034F, 2013.
Kärcher, B., Burkhardt, U., Ponater, M., and Frömming, C.: Importance of representing optical depth variability for estimates of global line-shaped contrail radiative forcing, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107, 19181–19184, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1005555107, 2010.
Lee, D. S., Fahey, D. W., Forster, P. M., Newton, P. J., Wit, R. C. N., Lim, L. L., Owen, B., and Sausen, R.: Aviation and global climate change in the 21th century, Atmos. Environ., 43, 3520–3537, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.04.024, 2009.
Lee, D. S., Pitari, G., Grewe, V., Gierens, K., Penner, J. E., Petzold, A., Prather, M. J., Schumann, U., Bais, A., Berntsen, T., Iachetti, D., Lim, L. L., and Sausen, R.: Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: aviation, Atmos. Environ., 44, 4678–4734, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.06.005, 2010.
Liu, X., Penner, J. E., and Wang, M.: Influence of anthropogenic sulfate and black carbon on upper tropospheric clouds in the NCAR CAM3 model coupled to the IMPACT global aerosol model, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D03204, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010492, 2009.
Liu, X., Easter, R. C., Ghan, S. J., Zaveri, R., Rasch, P., Shi, X., Lamarque, J.-F., Gettelman, A., Morrison, H., Vitt, F., Conley, A., Park, S., Neale, R., Hannay, C., Ekman, A. M. L., Hess, P., Mahowald, N., Collins, W., Iacono, M. J., Bretherton, C. S., Flanner, M. G., and Mitchell, D.: Toward a minimal representation of aerosols in climate models: description and evaluation in the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5, Geosci. Model Dev., 5, 709–739, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-5-709-2012, 2012.
Marquart, S., Ponater, M., Mager, F., and Sausen, R.: Future development of contrail cover, optical depth and radiative forcing: Impacts of increasing air traffic and climate change, J. Climate, 16, 2890–2904, 2003.
Minnis, P., Young, D. F., Garber, D. P., Nguyen, L., Smith, W. L. J., and Palikonda, R.: Transformation of contrails into cirrus during SUCCESS, Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1157–1160, 1998.
Morrison, H. and Gettelman, A.: A new two-moment bulk stratiform cloud microphysics scheme in the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM3), Part I: description and numerical tests, J. Climate, 21, 3642–3659, 2008.
Neale, R. B., Chen, C.-C., Gettelman, A., Lauritzen, P. H., Park, S., Williamson, D. L., Conley, A. J., Garcia, R., Kinnison, D., Lamarque, J.-F., Marsh, D., Mills, M., Smith, A. K., Tilmes, S., Vitt, F., Morrison, H., Cameron-Smith, P., Collins, W. D., Iacono, M. J., Easter, R. C., Ghan, S. J., Liu, X., Rasch, P. J., and Taylor, M. A.: Description of the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model (CAM 5.0), NCAR Technical Note, NCAR/TN-486+STR, available at: http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/models/cesm1.0/cam/docs/description/cam5_desc.pdf (last access: November 2012), 2010.
Penner, J. E., Chen, Y., Wang, M., and Liu, X.: Possible influence of anthropogenic aerosols on cirrus clouds and anthropogenic forcing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 879–896, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-879-2009, 2009.
Ponater, M., Marquart, S., and Sausen, R.: Contrails in a comprehensive global climate model: parameterization and radiative forcing results, J. Geophys. Res., 107, ACL2.1–ACL2.15, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JD000429, 2002.
Rap, A., Forster, P. M., Jones, A., Boucher, O., Haywood, J. M., Bellouin, N., and De Leon, R. R.: Parameterization of contrails in the UK Met Office Climate Model, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D10205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012443, 2010.
Righi, M., Hendricks, J., and Sausen, R.: The global impact of the transport sectors on atmospheric aerosol: simulations for year 2000 emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9939–9970, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9939-2013, 2013.
Sausen, R. and Schumann, U.: Estimates of the climate response to aircraft CO2 and NOx emissions scenarios, Climate Change, 44, 27–58, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005579306109, 2000.
Sausen, R., Isaksen, I., Hauglustaine, D., Grewe, V., Lee, D. S., Myhre, G., Köhler, M. O., Pitari, G., Schumann, U., Stordal, F., and Zerefos, C.: Aviation radiative forcing in 2000: an update on IPCC: 1999, Meteorol. Z., 14, 555–561, https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2005/0049, 2005.
Schmidt, E.: Die Entstehung von Eisnebel aus den Auspuffgasen von Flugmotoren, Schriften der Deutschen Akademie der Luftfahrtforschung, 44, 1–15, 1941.
Schröder, F., Kärcher, B., Duroure, C., Strom, J., Petzold, A., Gayet, J.-F., and Strauss, B.: On the transition of contrails into cirrus clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 464–480, 2000.
Schumann, U.: On conditions for contrail formation from aircraft exhausts, Meteorol. Z., 5, 4–24, 1996.
Schumann, U. and Graf, K.: Aviation-induced cirrus and radiation changes at diurnal timescales, J. Geophys. Res., 118, 2404–2421, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50184, 2013.
Schumann, U. and Wendling, P.: Determination of contrails from satellite data and observational results, in: Proc. of a DLR Intern. Coll., 15 and 16 November 1990, Lecture Notes in Engineering, 60, Spinger-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 138–153, 1990.
Schumann, U., Penner, J. E., Chen, Y., Zhou, C., and Graf, K.: Dehydration effects from contrails in a coupled contrail–climate model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11179–11199, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11179-2015, 2015.
Twomey, S.: The influence of pollution on the shortwave albedo of clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 34, 1149–1152, 1977.
Van Vuuren, D. P., Edmonds, J., Kainuma, M., Riahi, K., Thomson, A., Hibbard, K., Hurtt, G. C., Kram, T., Krey, V., Lamarque, J.-F., Masui, T., Meinshauusen, M., Nakicenovic, N., Smith, S. J., and Rose, S. K.: The representative concentration pathways: an overview, Climatic Change, 109, 5–31, 2011.
Zhou, Z. and Penner, J. E.: Aircraft soot indirect effect on large-scale cloud: Is the indirect forcing by aircraft soot positive or negative?, J. Geophys. Res., 119, 11303–11320, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD021914, 2014.
Short summary
The impact of aviation emissions through 2050 is simulated by a comprehensive global climate model. Four different future emission scenarios of the same flight tracks are considered. The results reveal that the global radiative forcing of contrail cirrus is positive and can increase by a factor of 7 in 2050 from the 2006 level. The aviation aerosols can produce negative forcing, mainly over the oceans, and increase by a factor of 4 in 2050 from the 2006 level.
The impact of aviation emissions through 2050 is simulated by a comprehensive global climate...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint