Articles | Volume 17, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
Research article
 | 
02 Jan 2017
Research article |  | 02 Jan 2017

Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM

Cheng Zhou and Joyce E. Penner

Related authors

What controls the low ice number concentration in the upper troposphere?
Cheng Zhou, Joyce E. Penner, Guangxing Lin, Xiaohong Liu, and Minghuai Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12411–12424, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12411-2016,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12411-2016, 2016
Short summary
Dehydration effects from contrails in a coupled contrail–climate model
U. Schumann, J. E. Penner, Yibin Chen, Cheng Zhou, and K. Graf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11179–11199, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11179-2015,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11179-2015, 2015

Related subject area

Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Cloud water adjustments to aerosol perturbations are buffered by solar heating in non-precipitating marine stratocumuli
Jianhao Zhang, Yao-Sheng Chen, Takanobu Yamaguchi, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10425–10440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10425-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10425-2024, 2024
Short summary
Glaciation of mixed-phase clouds: insights from bulk model and bin-microphysics large-eddy simulation informed by laboratory experiment
Aaron Wang, Steve Krueger, Sisi Chen, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Will Cantrell, and Raymond A. Shaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10245–10260, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10245-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10245-2024, 2024
Short summary
Microphysical processes involving the vapour phase dominate in simulated low-level Arctic clouds
Theresa Kiszler, Davide Ori, and Vera Schemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10039–10053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10039-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10039-2024, 2024
Short summary
Understanding aerosol–cloud interactions using a single-column model for a cold-air outbreak case during the ACTIVATE campaign
Shuaiqi Tang, Hailong Wang, Xiang-Yu Li, Jingyi Chen, Armin Sorooshian, Xubin Zeng, Ewan Crosbie, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10073–10092, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024, 2024
Short summary
On the sensitivity of aerosol–cloud interactions to changes in sea surface temperature in radiative–convective equilibrium
Suf Lorian and Guy Dagan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9323–9338, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9323-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9323-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Abdul-Razzak, H. and Ghan, S.: A parameterisation of aerosol activation 2. Multiple aerosol types, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 6837–6844, 2000.
Ackerman, A. S., Kirkpatrick, M. P., Stevens, D. E., and Toon, O. B.: The impact of humidity above stratiform clouds on indirect aerosol climate forcing, Nature, 432, 1014–1017, 2004.
Albrecht, B. A.: Aerosols, cloud microphysics, and fractional cloudiness, Science, 245, 1227–1230, 1989.
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, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2013.
Bretherton, C. S., Blossey, P. N., and Uchida, J.: Cloud droplet sedimentation, entrainment efficiency, and subtropical stratocumulus albedo, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L03813, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027648, 2007.
Download
Short summary
Observation-based studies have shown that the aerosol cloud lifetime effect or the increase of cloud liquid water with increased aerosol loading may have been overestimated in climate models. Here, by simulating the same shallow, warm clouds using a global climate model (CAM5) and a cloud resolving model (CRM) which has more complete and detailed cloud physics, we show how a climate model can overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect due to its simplified representation of cloud processes.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint