Articles | Volume 18, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17475-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17475-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 Dec 2018
Research article |
| 11 Dec 2018
| 11 Dec 2018
The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli
Anna Possner
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, USA
Hailong Wang
Earth Systems Analysis & Modeling, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, USA
Robert Wood
Department of Atmospheric Scieces, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Ken Caldeira
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, USA
Thomas P. Ackerman
Department of Atmospheric Scieces, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Joint Institute for the Study of Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Related authors
Florian Sauerland, Niels Souverijns, Anna Possner, Heike Wex, Preben Van Overmeiren, Alexander Mangold, Kwinten Van Weverberg, and Nicole van Lipzig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13751–13768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a regional climate model, COSMO-CLM², enhanced with a module resolving aerosol processes, to study Antarctic clouds. We prescribe different concentrations of ice-nucleating particles to our model to assess how these clouds respond to concentration changes, validating results with cloud and aerosol observations from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station. Our results show that aerosol–cloud interactions vary with temperature, providing valuable insights into Antarctic cloud dynamics.
Casey J. Wall, Trude Storelvmo, and Anna Possner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13125–13141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Interactions between aerosol pollution and liquid clouds are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the effective radiative forcing of climate over the industrial era. We use global satellite observations to decompose the forcing into components from changes in cloud-droplet number concentration, cloud water content, and cloud amount. Our results reduce uncertainty in these forcing components and clarify their relative importance.
Jessica Danker, Odran Sourdeval, Isabel L. McCoy, Robert Wood, and Anna Possner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10247–10265, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10247-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10247-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using spaceborne lidar-radar retrievals, we show that seasonal changes in cloud phase outweigh changes in cloud-phase statistics across cloud morphologies at given cloud-top temperatures. These results show that cloud morphology does not seem to pose a primary constraint on cloud-phase statistics in the Southern Ocean. Meanwhile, larger changes in in-cloud albedo across cloud morphologies are observed in supercooled liquid rather than mixed-phase stratocumuli.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. 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., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
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.
Anna Possner, Ryan Eastman, Frida Bender, and Franziska Glassmeier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3609–3621, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3609-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3609-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud water content and the number of droplets inside clouds covary with boundary layer depth. This covariation may amplify the change in water content due to a change in droplet number inferred from long-term observations. Taking this into account shows that the change in water content for increased droplet number in observations and high-resolution simulations agrees in shallow boundary layers. Meanwhile, deep boundary layers are under-sampled in process-scale simulations and observations.
Gesa K. Eirund, Anna Possner, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9847–9864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9847-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9847-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Low-level mixed-phase cloud (MPC) properties can be highly affected by the ambient aerosol concentration, especially in pristine environments like the Arctic. By employing high-resolution model simulations we investigate the response of a MPC over an open ocean and a sea ice surface to aerosol perturbations. While we find a strong initial sensitivity to changes in aerosol concentration in both cloud regimes, the magnitude as well as the long-term cloud response depends on the surface condition.
Robin G. Stevens, Katharina Loewe, Christopher Dearden, Antonios Dimitrelos, Anna Possner, Gesa K. Eirund, Tomi Raatikainen, Adrian A. Hill, Benjamin J. Shipway, Jonathan Wilkinson, Sami Romakkaniemi, Juha Tonttila, Ari Laaksonen, Hannele Korhonen, Paul Connolly, Ulrike Lohmann, Corinna Hoose, Annica M. L. Ekman, Ken S. Carslaw, and Paul R. Field
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11041–11071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11041-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11041-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We perform a model intercomparison of summertime high Arctic clouds. Observed concentrations of aerosol particles necessary for cloud formation fell to extremely low values, coincident with a transition from cloudy to nearly cloud-free conditions. Previous analyses have suggested that at these low concentrations, the radiative properties of the clouds are determined primarily by these particle concentrations. The model results strongly support this hypothesis.
Franziska Glassmeier, Anna Possner, Bernhard Vogel, Heike Vogel, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8651–8680, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8651-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8651-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We compare two chemistry and aerosol schemes – one designed for air-quality, the other for climate applications. For distribution, composition and radiative properties, the choice of aerosol types and processes turns out to be more important than their implementation. For aerosol–cloud interactions, we find cloud processes, in particular ice formation, to be the main obstacle to our understanding.
A. Possner, E. Zubler, U. Lohmann, and C. Schär
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2185–2201, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2185-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2185-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
For the first time, real-case simulations of ship tracks are performed at the 2km scale and evaluated against observations. Simulations show that ship tracks are quantitatively and qualitatively captured by the model. Therefore, this approach could be used to evaluate the interplay between parameterisations for aerosol–cloud interactions which occur, in the case of ship tracks, in spatially defined regions and under constrained environmental conditions.
Shicheng Yan, Yang Yang, Lili Ren, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, Lei Chen, Jianbin Jin, and Hong Liao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2950, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2950, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we assess the impact of carbon neutrality by 2060 on dust emissions in the Northern Hemisphere using the Community Earth System Model. Our findings show that reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols lead to decreased dust loading compared to high fossil fuel scenarios. While aerosol reductions promote dust, GHGs decreases reduce wind speeds, suppressing dust emissions. These results suggest that carbon-neutral policies mitigate climate change and reduce dust pollution.
Ziming Ke, Qi Tang, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Xiaohong Liu, and Hailong Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 4137–4153, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4137-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-4137-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study assesses volcanic aerosol representation in E3SM (Energy Exascale Earth System Model), showing that an emission-based approach moderately improves temperature variability and cloud responses compared to a prescribed forcing approach, yet significant bias persists.
Je-Yun Chun, Robert Wood, Peter N. Blossey, and Sarah J. Doherty
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5251–5271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5251-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5251-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how aerosols affect clouds transitioning from stratocumulus to cumulus along trade winds under varying atmospheric conditions. We found that aerosols typically reduce precipitation and raise cloud height, but their impact changes when subsidence changes by aerosol enhancement are considered. Our findings indicate that the cooling effect of aerosols might be overestimated if these atmospheric changes are not accounted for.
Naser Mahfouz, Hassan Beydoun, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Noel Keen, Adam C. Varble, Luca Bertagna, Peter Bogenschutz, Andrew Bradley, Matthew W. Christensen, T. Conrad Clevenger, Aaron Donahue, Jerome Fast, James Foucar, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Oksana Guba, Walter Hannah, Benjamin Hillman, Robert Jacob, Wuyin Lin, Po-Lun Ma, Yun Qian, Balwinder Singh, Christopher Terai, Hailong Wang, Mingxuan Wu, Kai Zhang, Andrew Gettelman, Mark Taylor, L. Ruby Leung, Peter Caldwell, and Susannah Burrows
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1868, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study assesses the aerosol effective radiative forcing in a global cloud-resolving atmosphere model at ultra-high resolution. We demonstrate that global ERFaer signal can be robustly reproduced across resolutions when aerosol activation processes are carefully parameterized. Further, we argue that simplified prescribed aerosol schemes will open the door for further process/mechanism studies under controlled conditions.
Yang Yang, Li You, Hailong Wang, Huimin Li, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-840, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-840, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study used machine learning to predict global and regional temperature changes under carbon neutrality and high emissions from 2015 to 2100.The results show that while carbon neutrality slows long-term warming, it causes short-term warming due to the rapid decline in aerosols. In contrast, greenhouse gases dominate warming in the high-emission scenario. These findings emphasize the important role of aerosols in shaping near-term climate change under carbon-neutral pathways.
Chris J. Wright, Joel A. Thornton, Lyatt Jaeglé, Yang Cao, Yannian Zhu, Jihu Liu, Randall Jones II, Robert Holzworth, Daniel Rosenfeld, Robert Wood, Peter Blossey, and Daehyun Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2937–2946, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2937-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2937-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol particles influence clouds, which exert a large forcing on solar radiation and freshwater. To better understand the mechanisms by which aerosol influences thunderstorms, we look at the two busiest shipping lanes in the world, where recent regulations have reduced sulfur emissions by nearly an order of magnitude. We find that the reduction in emissions has been accompanied by a dramatic decrease in both lightning and the number of droplets in clouds over the shipping lanes.
Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Richard A. Ferrare, Hyundeok Choi, Armin Sorooshian, David Painemal, Hailong Wang, Michael A. Shook, Amy Jo Scarino, Johnathan W. Hair, Ewan C. Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Taylor J. Shingler, Chris A. Hostetler, Gao Chen, Mary M. Kleb, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Mark A. Vaughan, Yongxiang Hu, Glenn S. Diskin, John B. Nowak, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Christoph A. Keller, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2087–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use the GEOS-Chem model to simulate aerosol distributions and properties over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) during the winter and summer deployments in 2020 of the NASA ACTIVATE mission. Model results are evaluated against aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations. The improved understanding of life cycle, composition, transport pathways, and distribution of aerosols has important implications for characterizing aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions over WNAO.
Mingxuan Wu, Hailong Wang, Zheng Lu, Xiaohong Liu, Huisheng Bian, David Cohen, Yan Feng, Mian Chin, Didier A. Hauglustaine, Vlassis A. Karydis, Marianne T. Lund, Gunnar Myhre, Andrea Pozzer, Michael Schulz, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Alexandra P. Tsimpidi, Svetlana G. Tsyro, and Shaocheng Xie
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-235, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-235, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A key challenge in simulating the lifecycle of nitrate aerosol in global climate models is to accurately represent mass size distribution of nitrate aerosol, which lacks sufficient observational constraints. We found that most climate models underestimate the mass fraction of fine-mode nitrate at surface in all regions. Our study highlights the importance of gas-aerosol partitioning parameterization and simulation of dust and sea salt in correctly simulating mass size distribution of nitrate.
Mariya Petrenko, Ralph Kahn, Mian Chin, Susanne E. Bauer, Tommi Bergman, Huisheng Bian, Gabriele Curci, Ben Johnson, Johannes W. Kaiser, Zak Kipling, Harri Kokkola, Xiaohong Liu, Keren Mezuman, Tero Mielonen, Gunnar Myhre, Xiaohua Pan, Anna Protonotariou, Samuel Remy, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Philip Stier, Toshihiko Takemura, Kostas Tsigaridis, Hailong Wang, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Kai Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1545–1567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1545-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1545-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We compared smoke plume simulations from 11 global models to each other and to satellite smoke amount observations aimed at constraining smoke source strength. In regions where plumes are thick and background aerosol is low, models and satellites compare well. However, the input emission inventory tends to underestimate in many places, and particle property and loss rate assumptions vary enormously among models, causing uncertainties that require systematic in situ measurements to resolve.
Florian Sauerland, Niels Souverijns, Anna Possner, Heike Wex, Preben Van Overmeiren, Alexander Mangold, Kwinten Van Weverberg, and Nicole van Lipzig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13751–13768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a regional climate model, COSMO-CLM², enhanced with a module resolving aerosol processes, to study Antarctic clouds. We prescribe different concentrations of ice-nucleating particles to our model to assess how these clouds respond to concentration changes, validating results with cloud and aerosol observations from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station. Our results show that aerosol–cloud interactions vary with temperature, providing valuable insights into Antarctic cloud dynamics.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13633–13652, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13633-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13633-2024, 2024
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 dry, warm air, which can lead to cloud dissipation. 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 have led us to conclude.
Jiyuan Gao, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3399, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3399, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The decline in aerosols in China altered temperature and pressure gradients between the two hemispheres, which intensified the Southern Trade Winds and caused a moisture divergence in Australia, resulting in less rainfall. Reduced surface moisture led to more energy being converted into sensible heat instead of evaporating as latent heat, which raised near-surface temperatures. Our findings offer insights for managing drought and wildfire risks in Australia.
Philip J. Rasch, Haruki Hirasawa, Mingxuan Wu, Sarah J. Doherty, Robert Wood, Hailong Wang, Andy Jones, James Haywood, and Hansi Singh
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7963–7994, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7963-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7963-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce a protocol to compare computer climate simulations to better understand a proposed strategy intended to counter warming and climate impacts from greenhouse gas increases. This slightly changes clouds in six ocean regions to reflect more sunlight and cool the Earth. Example changes in clouds and climate are shown for three climate models. Cloud changes differ between the models, but precipitation and surface temperature changes are similar when their cooling effects are made similar.
Lucas A. McMichael, Michael J. Schmidt, Robert Wood, Peter N. Blossey, and Lekha Patel
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7867–7888, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7867-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7867-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine cloud brightening (MCB) is a climate intervention technique to potentially cool the climate. Climate models used to gauge regional climate impacts associated with MCB often assume large areas of the ocean are uniformly perturbed. However, a more realistic representation of MCB application would require information about how an injected particle plume spreads. This work aims to develop such a plume-spreading model.
Ehsan Erfani, Robert Wood, Peter Blossey, Sarah J. Doherty, and Ryan Eastman
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3232, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3232, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we explore how marine clouds interact with aerosols. We introduce a novel approach to identify a reduced number of representative cases from a wide array of observed environmental conditions prevalent in the Northeast Pacific. We created over 2200 trajectories from observations and used cloud-resolving simulations to investigate how marine low clouds evolve in two different cases. It is shown that aerosols can delay cloud breakup, but their impact depends on precipitation.
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
Short summary
We examined marine boundary layer clouds and their interactions with aerosols in the E3SM single-column model (SCM) for a case study. The SCM shows good agreement when simulating the clouds with high-resolution models. It reproduces the relationship between cloud droplet and aerosol particle number concentrations as produced in global models. However, the relationship between cloud liquid water and droplet number concentration is different, warranting further investigation.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7331–7345, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024, 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.
Ryan Eastman, Isabel L. McCoy, Hauke Schulz, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6613–6634, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud types are determined using machine learning image classifiers applied to satellite imagery for 1 year in the North Atlantic. This survey of these cloud types shows that the climate impact of a cloud scene is, in part, a function of cloud type. Each type displays a different mix of thick and thin cloud cover, with the fraction of thin cloud cover having the strongest impact on the clouds' radiative effect. Future studies must account for differing properties and processes among cloud types.
Yang Yang, Shaoxuan Mou, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, Baojie Li, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6509–6523, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6509-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6509-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The variations in anthropogenic aerosol concentrations and source contributions and their subsequent radiative impact in major emission regions during historical periods are quantified based on an aerosol-tagging system in E3SMv1. Due to the industrial development and implementation of economic policies, sources of anthropogenic aerosols show different variations, which has important implications for pollution prevention and control measures and decision-making for global collaboration.
Taufiq Hassan, Kai Zhang, Jianfeng Li, Balwinder Singh, Shixuan Zhang, Hailong Wang, and Po-Lun Ma
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 3507–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3507-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-3507-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic aerosol emissions are an essential part of global aerosol models. Significant errors can exist from the loss of emission heterogeneity. We introduced an emission treatment that significantly improved aerosol emission heterogeneity in high-resolution model simulations, with improvements in simulated aerosol surface concentrations. The emission treatment will provide a more accurate representation of aerosol emissions and their effects on climate.
Weiming Ma, Hailong Wang, Gang Chen, Yun Qian, Ian Baxter, Yiling Huo, and Mark W. Seefeldt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4451–4472, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Extreme warming events with surface temperature going above 0°C can occur in the high-Arctic winter. Although reanalysis data show that these events were short-lived and occurred rarely during 1980–2021, they have become more frequent, stronger, and longer lasting latterly. A dipole pattern, comprising high- and low-pressure systems, is found to be the key in driving them. These findings have implications for the recent changes in sea ice, hydrological cycle, and ecosystem over the Arctic.
John T. Fasullo, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Julie M. Caron, Nan Rosenbloom, Gerald A. Meehl, Warren Strand, Sasha Glanville, Samantha Stevenson, Maria Molina, Christine A. Shields, Chengzhu Zhang, James Benedict, Hailong Wang, and Tony Bartoletti
Earth Syst. Dynam., 15, 367–386, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-367-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-15-367-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Climate model large ensembles provide a unique and invaluable means for estimating the climate response to external forcing agents and quantify contrasts in model structure. Here, an overview of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) version 2 large ensemble is given along with comparisons to large ensembles from E3SM version 1 and versions 1 and 2 of the Community Earth System Model. The paper provides broad and important context for users of these ensembles.
Yawen Liu, Yun Qian, Philip J. Rasch, Kai Zhang, Lai-yung Ruby Leung, Yuhang Wang, Minghuai Wang, Hailong Wang, Xin Huang, and Xiu-Qun Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3115–3128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3115-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Fire management has long been a challenge. Here we report that spring-peak fire activity over southern Mexico and Central America (SMCA) has a distinct quasi-biennial signal by measuring multiple fire metrics. This signal is initially driven by quasi-biennial variability in precipitation and is further amplified by positive feedback of fire–precipitation interaction at short timescales. This work highlights the importance of fire–climate interactions in shaping fires on an interannual scale.
Chen Zhang, John J. Cassano, Mark Seefeldt, Hailong Wang, Weiming Ma, and Wen-wen Tung
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-320, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-320, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An atmospheric river (AR) is a long, narrow corridor of moisture transport in the atmosphere. ARs are crucial for moisture and heat transport into the polar regions. Our study examines the role of ARs on the surface energy budget (SEB) in the Arctic. The results reveal distinct seasonality and land-sea-sea ice contrasts due to the impacts of ARs on the SEB. The conclusions provide greater insights into the current and future role of ARs on the Arctic climate system.
Hui Wan, Kai Zhang, Christopher J. Vogl, Carol S. Woodward, Richard C. Easter, Philip J. Rasch, Yan Feng, and Hailong Wang
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1387–1407, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1387-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1387-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Sophisticated numerical models of the Earth's atmosphere include representations of many physical and chemical processes. In numerical simulations, these processes need to be calculated in a certain sequence. This study reveals the weaknesses of the sequence of calculations used for aerosol processes in a global atmosphere model. A revision of the sequence is proposed and its impacts on the simulated global aerosol climatology are evaluated.
Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Peter R. Colarco, Eric C. Apel, Donald R. Blake, Karl Froyd, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Jose Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Michael Lawler, Mingxu Liu, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Hitoshi Matsui, Benjamin A. Nault, Joyce E. Penner, Andrew W. Rollins, Gregory Schill, Ragnhild B. Skeie, Hailong Wang, Lu Xu, Kai Zhang, and Jialei Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1717–1741, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1717-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work studies sulfur in the remote troposphere at global and seasonal scales using aircraft measurements and multi-model simulations. The goal is to understand the sulfur cycle over remote oceans, spread of model simulations, and observation–model discrepancies. Such an understanding and comparison with real observations are crucial to narrow down the uncertainties in model sulfur simulations and improve understanding of the sulfur cycle in atmospheric air quality, climate, and ecosystems.
Yang Yang, Yang Zhou, Hailong Wang, Mengyun Li, Huimin Li, Pinya Wang, Xu Yue, Ke Li, Jia Zhu, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1177–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1177-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1177-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study reveals that extreme ozone pollution over the North China Plain and Yangtze River Delta is due to the chemical production related to hot and dry conditions, and the regional transport explains the ozone pollution over the Sichuan Basin and Pearl River Delta. The frequency of meteorological conditions of the extreme ozone pollution increases from the past to the future. The sustainable scenario is the optimal path to retaining clean air in China in the future.
Hamza Ahsan, Hailong Wang, Jingbo Wu, Mingxuan Wu, Steven J. Smith, Susanne Bauer, Harrison Suchyta, Dirk Olivié, Gunnar Myhre, Hitoshi Matsui, Huisheng Bian, Jean-François Lamarque, Ken Carslaw, Larry Horowitz, Leighton Regayre, Mian Chin, Michael Schulz, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Toshihiko Takemura, and Vaishali Naik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14779–14799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14779-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14779-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the impact of the assumed effective height of SO2 injection, SO2 and BC emission seasonality, and the assumed fraction of SO2 emissions injected as SO4 on climate and chemistry model results. We find that the SO2 injection height has a large impact on surface SO2 concentrations and, in some models, radiative flux. These assumptions are a
hiddensource of inter-model variability and may be leading to bias in some climate model results.
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand smoke properties and its interactions with clouds, we compare the WRF-CAM5 model with observations from ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC field campaigns in the southeastern Atlantic in August 2017. The model transports and mixes smoke well but does not fully capture some important processes. These include smoke chemical and physical aging over 4–12 days, smoke removal by rain, sulfate particle formation, aerosol activation into cloud droplets, and boundary layer turbulence.
Casey J. Wall, Trude Storelvmo, and Anna Possner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13125–13141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Interactions between aerosol pollution and liquid clouds are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the effective radiative forcing of climate over the industrial era. We use global satellite observations to decompose the forcing into components from changes in cloud-droplet number concentration, cloud water content, and cloud amount. Our results reduce uncertainty in these forcing components and clarify their relative importance.
Armin Sorooshian, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Adam D. Bell, Ryan Bennett, Grace Betito, Sharon P. Burton, Megan E. Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Eduard V. Chemyakin, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Brian L. Collister, Anthony L. Cook, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan C. Crosbie, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sanja Dmitrovic, Eva-Lou Edwards, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David van Gilst, Johnathan W. Hair, David B. Harper, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Nathan Jester, Michael Jones, Simon Kirschler, Mary M. Kleb, John M. Kusterer, Sean Leavor, Joseph W. Lee, Hongyu Liu, Kayla McCauley, Richard H. Moore, Joseph Nied, Anthony Notari, John B. Nowak, David Painemal, Kasey E. Phillips, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Joseph S. Schlosser, Shane T. Seaman, Chellappan Seethala, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth A. Sinclair, William L. Smith Jr., Douglas A. Spangenberg, Snorre A. Stamnes, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Andrzej P. Wasilewski, Hailong Wang, Edward L. Winstead, Kira Zeider, Xubin Zeng, Bo Zhang, Luke D. Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3419–3472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions. HU-25 Falcon and King Air aircraft conducted systematic and spatially coordinated flights over the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This paper describes the ACTIVATE flight strategy, instrument and complementary dataset products, data access and usage details, and data application notes.
Qi Tang, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Luke P. Van Roekel, Mark A. Taylor, Wuyin Lin, Benjamin R. Hillman, Paul A. Ullrich, Andrew M. Bradley, Oksana Guba, Jonathan D. Wolfe, Tian Zhou, Kai Zhang, Xue Zheng, Yunyan Zhang, Meng Zhang, Mingxuan Wu, Hailong Wang, Cheng Tao, Balwinder Singh, Alan M. Rhoades, Yi Qin, Hong-Yi Li, Yan Feng, Yuying Zhang, Chengzhu Zhang, Charles S. Zender, Shaocheng Xie, Erika L. Roesler, Andrew F. Roberts, Azamat Mametjanov, Mathew E. Maltrud, Noel D. Keen, Robert L. Jacob, Christiane Jablonowski, Owen K. Hughes, Ryan M. Forsyth, Alan V. Di Vittorio, Peter M. Caldwell, Gautam Bisht, Renata B. McCoy, L. Ruby Leung, and David C. Bader
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3953–3995, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3953-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3953-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
High-resolution simulations are superior to low-resolution ones in capturing regional climate changes and climate extremes. However, uniformly reducing the grid size of a global Earth system model is too computationally expensive. We provide an overview of the fully coupled regionally refined model (RRM) of E3SMv2 and document a first-of-its-kind set of climate production simulations using RRM at an economic cost. The key to this success is our innovative hybrid time step method.
Lei Duan and Ken Caldeira
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6011–6020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6011-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6011-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ocko and Hamburg (2022) emphasize the short-term climate impact of hydrogen, and we present an analysis that places greater focus on long-term outcomes. We have derived equations that describe the time-evolving impact of hydrogen and show that higher methane leakage is primarily responsible for the warming potential of blue hydrogen, while hydrogen leakage plays a less critical role. Fossil fuels show more prominent longer-term climate impacts than clean hydrogen under all emission scenarios.
Aishwarya Raman, Thomas Hill, Paul J. DeMott, Balwinder Singh, Kai Zhang, Po-Lun Ma, Mingxuan Wu, Hailong Wang, Simon P. Alexander, and Susannah M. Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5735–5762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5735-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5735-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) play an important role in cloud processes and associated precipitation. Yet, INPs are not accurately represented in climate models. This study attempts to uncover these gaps by comparing model-simulated INP concentrations against field campaign measurements in the SO for an entire year, 2017–2018. Differences in INP concentrations and variability between the model and observations have major implications for modeling cloud properties in high latitudes.
Pengwei Li, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Su Li, Ke Li, Pinya Wang, Baojie Li, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5403–5417, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5403-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5403-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use a novel technique that can attribute O3 to precursors to investigate O3 changes in the United States during 1995–2019. We found that the US domestic energy and surface transportation emission reductions are primarily responsible for the O3 decrease in summer. In winter, factors such as nitrogen oxide emission reduction in the context of its inhibition of ozone production, increased aviation and shipping activities, and large-scale circulation changes contribute to the O3 increases.
Amie Dobracki, Paquita Zuidema, Steven G. Howell, Pablo Saide, Steffen Freitag, Allison C. Aiken, Sharon P. Burton, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jens Redemann, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4775–4799, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4775-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4775-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Southern Africa produces approximately one-third of the world’s carbon from fires. The thick smoke layer can flow westward, interacting with the southeastern Atlantic cloud deck. The net radiative impact can alter regional circulation patterns, impacting rainfall over Africa. We find that the smoke is highly absorbing of sunlight, mostly because it contains more black carbon than smoke over the Northern Hemisphere.
Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Connor J. Flynn, Yohei Shinozuka, Sarah J. Doherty, Michael S. Diamond, Karla M. Longo, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Gregory R. Carmichael, Patricia Castellanos, Arlindo M. da Silva, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Zhixin Xue, Marc Mallet, Ravi Govindaraju, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Yan Feng, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kerry G. Meyer, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sundar A. Christopher, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4283–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
Francesca Gallo, Janek Uin, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Jian Wang, Robert Wood, Fan Mei, Connor Flynn, Stephen Springston, Eduardo B. Azevedo, Chongai Kuang, and Allison C. Aiken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4221–4246, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a summary statistic of multiday aerosol plume transport event influences on aerosol physical properties and the cloud condensation nuclei budget at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA). An algorithm that integrates aerosol properties is developed and applied to identify multiday aerosol transport events. The influence of the aerosol plumes on aerosol populations at the ENA is successively assessed.
Zhenquan Wang, Jian Yuan, Robert Wood, Yifan Chen, and Tiancheng Tong
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3247–3266, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3247-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3247-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study develops a novel profile-based algorithm based on the ERA5 to estimate the inversion strength in the planetary boundary layer better than the previous inversion index, which is a key low-cloud-controlling factor. This improved measure is more effective at representing the meteorological influence on low-cloud variations. It can better constrain the meteorological influence on low clouds to better isolate cloud responses to aerosols or to estimate low cloud feedbacks in climate models.
Mengyun Li, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Huimin Li, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1533–1544, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1533-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1533-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using the GEOS-Chem model, the impact of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) on summertime tropospheric O3 in China is investigated. In the warm phases of sea surface temperature anomalies over the eastern tropical Pacific, the QBO has a significant positive correlation with near-surface O3 concentrations over central China. The QBO impacts on O3 pollution in China are mainly a result of changing vertical transport of O3.
Je-Yun Chun, Robert Wood, Peter Blossey, and Sarah J. Doherty
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1345–1368, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1345-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1345-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the impact of injected aerosol on subtropical low marine clouds under a variety of meteorological conditions using high-resolution model simulations. This study illustrates processes perturbed by aerosol injections and their impact on cloud properties (e.g., cloud number concentration, thickness, and cover). We show that those responses are highly sensitive to background meteorological conditions, such as precipitation, and background cloud properties.
Huimin Li, Yang Yang, Jianbing Jin, Hailong Wang, Ke Li, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1131–1145, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1131-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1131-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Future climate change will aggravate ozone pollution in Asia, especially in high-forcing scenarios. Ozone pollution in China will expand from North China to South China and extend into the cold season in a warmer future. The emphasis of this work is to quantify the impacts of future climate change on O3 pollution in Asia, which is of great significance for future O3 pollution mitigation strategies.
Younjoo J. Lee, Wieslaw Maslowski, John J. Cassano, Jaclyn Clement Kinney, Anthony P. Craig, Samy Kamal, Robert Osinski, Mark W. Seefeldt, Julienne Stroeve, and Hailong Wang
The Cryosphere, 17, 233–253, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-233-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
During 1979–2020, four winter polynyas occurred in December 1986 and February 2011, 2017, and 2018 north of Greenland. Instead of ice melting due to the anomalous warm air intrusion, the extreme wind forcing resulted in greater ice transport offshore. Based on the two ensemble runs, representing a 1980s thicker ice vs. a 2010s thinner ice, a dominant cause of these winter polynyas stems from internal variability of atmospheric forcing rather than from the forced response to a warming climate.
Dalei Hao, Gautam Bisht, Karl Rittger, Edward Bair, Cenlin He, Huilin Huang, Cheng Dang, Timbo Stillinger, Yu Gu, Hailong Wang, Yun Qian, and L. Ruby Leung
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 75–94, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-75-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-75-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Snow with the highest albedo of land surface plays a vital role in Earth’s surface energy budget and water cycle. This study accounts for the impacts of snow grain shape and mixing state of light-absorbing particles with snow on snow albedo in the E3SM land model. The findings advance our understanding of the role of snow grain shape and mixing state of LAP–snow in land surface processes and offer guidance for improving snow simulations and radiative forcing estimates in Earth system models.
Yang Yang, Liangying Zeng, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14489–14502, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14489-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14489-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using an aerosol–climate model, dust pollution in China affected by different spatial and temporal types of El Niño are examined. Both eastern and central Pacific El Niño and short-duration El Niño increase winter dust concentrations over northern China, while long-duration El Niño decreases concentrations. Only long-duration El Niño events can significantly affect dust over China in the following spring. This study has profound implications for air pollution control and dust storm prediction.
Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Rei Ueyama, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Ian Chang, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14209–14241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14209-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14209-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The variability in the meteorological fields during each deployment is highly modulated at a daily to synoptic timescale. This paper, along with part 1, the climatological overview paper, provides a meteorological context for interpreting the airborne measurements gathered during the three ORACLES deployments. This study supports related studies focusing on the detailed investigation of the processes controlling stratocumulus decks, aerosol lifting, transport, and their interactions.
Paul A. Barrett, Steven J. Abel, Hugh Coe, Ian Crawford, Amie Dobracki, James Haywood, Steve Howell, Anthony Jones, Justin Langridge, Greg M. McFarquhar, Graeme J. Nott, Hannah Price, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Paquita Zuidema, Stéphane Bauguitte, Ryan Bennett, Keith Bower, Hong Chen, Sabrina Cochrane, Michael Cotterell, Nicholas Davies, David Delene, Connor Flynn, Andrew Freedman, Steffen Freitag, Siddhant Gupta, David Noone, Timothy B. Onasch, James Podolske, Michael R. Poellot, Sebastian Schmidt, Stephen Springston, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jamie Trembath, Alan Vance, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jianhao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6329–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand weather and climate, it is vital to go into the field and collect observations. Often measurements take place in isolation, but here we compared data from two aircraft and one ground-based site. This was done in order to understand how well measurements made on one platform compared to those made on another. Whilst this is easy to do in a controlled laboratory setting, it is more challenging in the real world, and so these comparisons are as valuable as they are rare.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Jessica Danker, Odran Sourdeval, Isabel L. McCoy, Robert Wood, and Anna Possner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10247–10265, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10247-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10247-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Using spaceborne lidar-radar retrievals, we show that seasonal changes in cloud phase outweigh changes in cloud-phase statistics across cloud morphologies at given cloud-top temperatures. These results show that cloud morphology does not seem to pose a primary constraint on cloud-phase statistics in the Southern Ocean. Meanwhile, larger changes in in-cloud albedo across cloud morphologies are observed in supercooled liquid rather than mixed-phase stratocumuli.
Kai Zhang, Wentao Zhang, Hui Wan, Philip J. Rasch, Steven J. Ghan, Richard C. Easter, Xiangjun Shi, Yong Wang, Hailong Wang, Po-Lun Ma, Shixuan Zhang, Jian Sun, Susannah M. Burrows, Manish Shrivastava, Balwinder Singh, Yun Qian, Xiaohong Liu, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Qi Tang, Xue Zheng, Shaocheng Xie, Wuyin Lin, Yan Feng, Minghuai Wang, Jin-Ho Yoon, and L. Ruby Leung
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9129–9160, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9129-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9129-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Here we analyze the effective aerosol forcing simulated by E3SM version 1 using both century-long free-running and short nudged simulations. The aerosol forcing in E3SMv1 is relatively large compared to other models, mainly due to the large indirect aerosol effect. Aerosol-induced changes in liquid and ice cloud properties in E3SMv1 have a strong correlation. The aerosol forcing estimates in E3SMv1 are sensitive to the parameterization changes in both liquid and ice cloud processes.
Jiyuan Gao, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, Huimin Li, Mengyun Li, Lili Ren, Xu Yue, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7131–7142, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7131-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7131-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
China has been implementing a sequence of policies for clean air since the year 2013. The aerosol decline produced a 0.09 ± 0.10°C warming during 2013–2017 estimated in this study, and the increase in ozone in the lower troposphere during this time period accelerated the warming, leading to a total 0.16 ± 0.15°C temperature increase in eastern China. Residential emission reductions led to a cooling effect because of a substantial decrease in light-absorbing aerosols.
Xue Zheng, Qing Li, Tian Zhou, Qi Tang, Luke P. Van Roekel, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Hailong Wang, and Philip Cameron-Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 3941–3967, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3941-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-3941-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We document the model experiments for the future climate projection by E3SMv1.0. At the highest future emission scenario, E3SMv1.0 projects a strong surface warming with rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land runoff. Specifically, we detect a significant polar amplification and accelerated warming linked to the unmasking of the aerosol effects. The impact of greenhouse gas forcing is examined in different climate components.
Susannah M. Burrows, Richard C. Easter, Xiaohong Liu, Po-Lun Ma, Hailong Wang, Scott M. Elliott, Balwinder Singh, Kai Zhang, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5223–5251, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5223-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5223-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Sea spray particles are composed of a mixture of salts and organic substances from oceanic microorganisms. In prior work, our team developed an approach connecting sea spray chemistry to ocean biology, called OCEANFILMS. Here we describe its implementation within an Earth system model, E3SM. We show that simulated sea spray chemistry is consistent with observed seasonal cycles and that sunlight reflected by simulated Southern Ocean clouds increases, consistent with analysis of satellite data.
Po-Lun Ma, Bryce E. Harrop, Vincent E. Larson, Richard B. 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, Michael S. Pritchard, 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., 15, 2881–2916, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-2881-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
An alternative set of parameters for E3SM Atmospheric Model version 1 has been developed based on a tuning strategy that focuses on clouds. When clouds in every regime are improved, other aspects of the model are also improved, even though they are not the direct targets for calibration. The recalibrated model shows a lower sensitivity to anthropogenic aerosols and surface warming, suggesting potential improvements to the simulated climate in the past and future.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. 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., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
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.
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Amie Dobracki, Paquita Zuidema, Steve Howell, Pablo Saide, Steffen Freitag, Allison C. Aiken, Sharon P. Burton, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jens Redemann, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-1081, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The global maximum of shortwave-absorbing aerosol above cloud occurs above the southeast Atlantic, where the biomass-burning aerosol provides a distinct aerosol radiative warming of regional climate. The smoke aerosols are unusually highly absorbing of sunlight. This study seeks to understand the cause. We conclude the aerosol is already strongly absorbing at the fire emission source, but that chemical aging, through encouraging a net loss of organic aerosol, also contributes.
Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Rei Ueyama, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Ian Chang, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16689–16707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16689-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16689-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Part 1 of the meteorological overview paper highlights the anomalous meteorological characteristics during the ORACLES deployment compared to the climatological mean at monthly timescales. The upper-level wave disturbance and the associated anomalous circulation explain the weakening of AEJ-S through the reduction of the strength of the heat low over the land during August 2017. This may also help explain the anomalously low aerosol optical depth observed in the August 2017 ORACLES deployment.
Rachel Atlas, Johannes Mohrmann, Joseph Finlon, Jeremy Lu, Ian Hsiao, Robert Wood, and Minghui Diao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7079–7101, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7079-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Many clouds with temperatures between 0 °C and −40 °C contain both liquid and ice particles, and the ratio of liquid to ice particles influences how the clouds interact with radiation and moderate Earth's climate. We use a machine learning method called random forest to classify images of individual cloud particles as either liquid or ice. We apply our algorithm to images captured by aircraft within clouds overlying the Southern Ocean, and we find that it outperforms two existing algorithms.
Hossein Dadashazar, Majid Alipanah, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan Crosbie, Simon Kirschler, Hongyu Liu, Richard H. Moore, Andrew J. Peters, Amy Jo Scarino, Michael Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Hailong Wang, Edward Winstead, Bo Zhang, Luke Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16121–16141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16121-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16121-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates precipitation impacts on long-range transport of North American outflow over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO). Results demonstrate that precipitation scavenging plays a significant role in modifying surface aerosol concentrations over the WNAO, especially in winter and spring due to large-scale scavenging processes. This study highlights how precipitation impacts surface aerosol properties with relevance for other marine regions vulnerable to continental outflow.
Lili Ren, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, Lei Chen, Jia Zhu, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15431–15445, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15431-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, human activities were strictly restricted in China. Even though anthropogenic aerosol emissions largely decreased, haze events still occurred. Our results shows that PM2.5 over the North China Plain is largely contributed by local sources. For other regions in China, PM2.5 is largely contributed from nonlocal sources. As emission reduction is a future goal, aerosol long-range transport and unfavorable meteorology are increasingly important to air quality.
Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14507–14533, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14507-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A simple model is described to assess the potential for increasing solar reflection by augmenting the aerosol population below marine low clouds, which increases the concentration of cloud droplets. The model is used to predict global cooling from marine cloud brightening climate intervention as a function of the quantity, size, and lifetime of salt particles injected per sprayer, the number of sprayers deployed, the cloud updraft speed, and unperturbed aerosol size distribution.
Yang Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Michael P. Jensen, Daniel A. Knopf, Alexander Laskin, Alyssa A. Matthews, David Mechem, Fan Mei, Ryan Moffet, Arthur J. Sedlacek, John E. Shilling, Stephen Springston, Amy Sullivan, Jason Tomlinson, Daniel Veghte, Rodney Weber, Robert Wood, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11079–11098, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper reports the vertical profiles of trace gas and aerosol properties over the eastern North Atlantic, a region of persistent but diverse subtropical marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds. We examined the key processes that drive the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) population and how it varies with season and synoptic conditions. This study helps improve the model representation of the aerosol processes in the remote MBL, reducing the simulated aerosol indirect effects.
Liangying Zeng, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Jing Wang, Jing Li, Lili Ren, Huimin Li, Yang Zhou, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10745–10761, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10745-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10745-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using an aerosol–climate model, the impacts of El Niño with different durations on aerosols in China are examined. The modulation on aerosol concentrations and haze days by short-duration El Niño events is 2–3 times more than that by long-duration El Niño events in China. The frequency of short-duration El Niño has been increasing significantly in recent decades, suggesting that El Niño events have exerted increasingly intense modulation on aerosol pollution in China over the past few decades.
Hossein Dadashazar, David Painemal, Majid Alipanah, Michael Brunke, Seethala Chellappan, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan Crosbie, Simon Kirschler, Hongyu Liu, Richard H. Moore, Claire Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Michael Shook, Kenneth Sinclair, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Hailong Wang, Edward Winstead, Xubin Zeng, Luke Ziemba, Paquita Zuidema, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10499–10526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10499-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10499-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the seasonal cycle of cloud drop number concentration (Nd) over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) using multiple datasets. Reasons for the puzzling discrepancy between the seasonal cycles of Nd and aerosol concentration were identified. Results indicate that Nd is highest in winter (when aerosol proxy values are often lowest) due to conditions both linked to cold-air outbreaks and that promote greater droplet activation.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
Johannes Mohrmann, Robert Wood, Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Ryan Eastman, and Lazaros Oreopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9629–9642, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9629-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9629-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Observations of marine-boundary-layer conditions are composited by cloud type, based on a new classification dataset. It is found that two cloud types, representing regions of clustered and suppressed low-level clouds, occur in very similar large-scale conditions but are distinguished from each other by considering low-level circulation and surface wind fields, validating prior results from modeling.
Maria A. Zawadowicz, Kaitlyn Suski, Jiumeng Liu, Mikhail Pekour, Jerome Fast, Fan Mei, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Stephen Springston, Yang Wang, Rahul A. Zaveri, Robert Wood, Jian Wang, and John E. Shilling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7983–8002, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7983-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7983-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes the results of a recent field campaign in the eastern North Atlantic, where two mass spectrometers were deployed aboard a research aircraft to measure the chemistry of aerosols and trace gases. Very clean conditions were found, dominated by local sulfate-rich acidic aerosol and very aged organics. Evidence of
long-range transport of aerosols from the continents was also identified.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Jim M. Haywood, Steven J. Abel, Paul A. Barrett, Nicolas Bellouin, Alan Blyth, Keith N. Bower, Melissa Brooks, Ken Carslaw, Haochi Che, Hugh Coe, Michael I. Cotterell, Ian Crawford, Zhiqiang Cui, Nicholas Davies, Beth Dingley, Paul Field, Paola Formenti, Hamish Gordon, Martin de Graaf, Ross Herbert, Ben Johnson, Anthony C. Jones, Justin M. Langridge, Florent Malavelle, Daniel G. Partridge, Fanny Peers, Jens Redemann, Philip Stier, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1049–1084, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1049-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Every year, the seasonal cycle of biomass burning from agricultural practices in Africa creates a huge plume of smoke that travels many thousands of kilometres over the Atlantic Ocean. This study provides an overview of a measurement campaign called the cloud–aerosol–radiation interaction and forcing for year 2017 (CLARIFY-2017) and documents the rationale, deployment strategy, observations, and key results from the campaign which utilized the heavily equipped FAAM atmospheric research aircraft.
Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Robert Wood, Johannes Mohrmann, Kerry Meyer, Lazaros Oreopoulos, and Steven Platnick
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6989–6997, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We use deep transfer learning techniques to classify satellite cloud images into different morphology types. It achieves the state-of-the-art results and can automatically process a large amount of satellite data. The algorithm will help low-cloud researchers to better understand their mesoscale organizations.
Mingxuan Wu, Xiaohong Liu, Hongbin Yu, Hailong Wang, Yang Shi, Kang Yang, Anton Darmenov, Chenglai Wu, Zhien Wang, Tao Luo, Yan Feng, and Ziming Ke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13835–13855, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13835-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The spatiotemporal distributions of dust aerosol simulated by global climate models (GCMs) are highly uncertain. In this study, we evaluate dust extinction profiles, optical depth, and surface concentrations simulated in three GCMs and one reanalysis against multiple satellite retrievals and surface observations to gain process-level understanding. Our results highlight the importance of correctly representing dust emission, dry/wet deposition, and size distribution in GCMs.
Min Chen and Ken Caldeira
Earth Syst. Dynam., 11, 875–883, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-875-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-875-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the implications of future motivation for humans to migrate by analyzing today’s relationships between climatic factors and population density, with all other factors held constant. Such analyses are unlikely to make accurate predictions but can still be useful for informing discussions about the broad range of incentives that might influence migration decisions. Areas with the highest projected population growth rates tend to be the areas most adversely affected by climate change.
Yohei Shinozuka, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Sharon P. Burton, Richard Ferrare, Sarah J. Doherty, Hamish Gordon, Karla Longo, Marc Mallet, Yan Feng, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Steven G. Howell, Samuel LeBlanc, Connor Flynn, Michal Segal-Rosenhaimer, Kristina Pistone, James R. Podolske, Eric J. Stith, Joseph Ryan Bennett, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Ruby Leung, Yang Zhang, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11491–11526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11491-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In the southeast Atlantic, well-defined smoke plumes from Africa advect over marine boundary layer cloud decks; both are most extensive around September, when most of the smoke resides in the free troposphere. A framework is put forth for evaluating the performance of a range of global and regional atmospheric composition models against observations made during the NASA ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) airborne mission in September 2016.
Bethany Sutherland, Ben Kravitz, Philip J. Rasch, and Hailong Wang
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2020-228, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2020-228, 2020
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
Through a cascade of physical mechanisms, a change in one location can trigger a response in a different location. These responses and the mechanisms that cause them are difficult to detect. Here we propose a method, using global climate models, to detect possible relationships between changes in one region and responses throughout the globe caused by that change. A change in the Pacific ocean is used as a test case to determine the effectiveness of the method.
Lili Ren, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Rudong Zhang, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9067–9085, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9067-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9067-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Observations show that the concentrations of Arctic aerosols have declined since the early 1980s, which potentially contributed to the recent, rapid Arctic warming. We found that changes in sulfate and black carbon aerosols over the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere had a larger impact on Arctic temperature than other regions and that the aerosol-induced temperature change explained approximately 20 % of the observed Arctic warming during 1980–2018.
Francesca Gallo, Janek Uin, Stephen Springston, Jian Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Chongai Kuang, Robert Wood, Eduardo B. Azevedo, Allison McComiskey, Fan Mei, Adam Theisen, Jenni Kyrouac, and Allison C. Aiken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7553–7573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7553-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7553-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Continuous high-time-resolution ambient data can include periods when aerosol properties do not represent regional aerosol processes due to high-concentration local events. We develop a novel aerosol mask at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA). We use two ground sites to validate the mask, include a comparison with aircraft overflights, and provide guidance to increase data quality at ENA and other locations.
Yufei Zou, Yuhang Wang, Zuowei Xie, Hailong Wang, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4999–5017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4999-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4999-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze the relationship between winter air stagnation and pollution extremes over eastern China and preceding Arctic sea ice loss based on climate modeling and dynamic diagnoses. We find significant increases in both the probability and intensity of air stagnation extremes in the modeling result driven by regional sea ice and sea surface temperature changes over the Pacific sector of the Arctic. We reveal the considerable impact of the Arctic climate change on mid-latitude weather extremes.
Anna Possner, Ryan Eastman, Frida Bender, and Franziska Glassmeier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3609–3621, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3609-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3609-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud water content and the number of droplets inside clouds covary with boundary layer depth. This covariation may amplify the change in water content due to a change in droplet number inferred from long-term observations. Taking this into account shows that the change in water content for increased droplet number in observations and high-resolution simulations agrees in shallow boundary layers. Meanwhile, deep boundary layers are under-sampled in process-scale simulations and observations.
Mary Kacarab, K. Lee Thornhill, Amie Dobracki, Steven G. Howell, Joseph R. O'Brien, Steffen Freitag, Michael R. Poellot, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3029–3040, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We find that extensive biomass burning aerosol plumes from southern Africa can profoundly influence clouds in the southeastern Atlantic. Concurrent variations in vertical velocity, however, are found to magnify the relationship between boundary layer aerosol and the cloud droplet number. Neglecting these covariances may strongly bias the sign and magnitude of aerosol impacts on the cloud droplet number.
Yang Yang, Sijia Lou, Hailong Wang, Pinya Wang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2579–2590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2579-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2579-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol concentration decreased in Europe during 1980–2018, of which 7 % was induced by the changes in non-European emissions. Aerosols transported from other source regions are increasingly important to air quality in Europe. Contributions to the sulfate radiative forcing over Europe from both European and non-European emissions should decrease at a comparable rate in the next three decades. Future changes in non-European emissions are important in causing regional climate change in Europe.
Sam Pennypacker, Michael Diamond, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2341–2351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from instruments deployed to a small island in the southeast Atlantic, we study days when the atmospheric concentrations of particles near the surface are exceptionally low. Interestingly, these ultra-clean boundary layers occur in the same months as the smokiest boundary layers associated with biomass burning in Africa. We find evidence that enhancements in drizzle scavenging, on top of a seasonal maximum in cloudiness and precipitation, likely drive these conditions.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Stephen Dunagan, Robert P. Dahlgren, Kerry Meyer, James Podolske, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Brent Holben, Michael Diamond, Robert Wood, Paola Formenti, Stuart Piketh, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Monja Gerber, and Andreas Namwoonde
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The southeast Atlantic during August–October experiences layers of smoke from biomass burning over marine stratocumulus clouds. Here we present the light attenuation of the smoke and its dependence in the spatial, vertical, and spectral domain through direct measurements from an airborne platform during September 2016. From our observations of this climatically important smoke, we found an average aerosol optical depth of 0.32 at 500 nm, slightly lower than comparative satellite measurements.
Hailong Wang, Jeremy G. Fyke, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, Jesse M. Nusbaumer, Hansi Singh, David Noone, Philip J. Rasch, and Rudong Zhang
The Cryosphere, 14, 429–444, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-429-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-429-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using a climate model with unique water source tagging, we found that sea-ice anomalies in the Southern Ocean and accompanying SST changes have a significant influence on Antarctic precipitation and its source attribution through their direct impact on moisture sources and indirect impact on moisture transport. This study also highlights the importance of atmospheric dynamics in affecting the thermodynamic impact of sea-ice anomalies on regional Antarctic precipitation.
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.
Hongbin Yu, Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Qian Tan, Mian Chin, Robert C. Levy, Lorraine A. Remer, Steven J. Smith, Tianle Yuan, and Yingxi Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 139–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-139-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Emissions and long-range transport of mineral dust and
combustion-related aerosol from burning fossil fuels and biomass vary from year to year, driven by the evolution of the economy and changes in meteorological conditions and environmental regulations. This study offers both satellite and model perspectives on interannual variability and possible trends in combustion aerosol and dust in major continental outflow regions over the past 15 years (2003–2017).
Krishna-Pillai Sukumara-Pillai Krishnamohan, Govindasamy Bala, Long Cao, Lei Duan, and Ken Caldeira
Earth Syst. Dynam., 10, 885–900, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-885-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-10-885-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We find that sulfate aerosols are more effective in cooling the climate system when they reside higher in the stratosphere. We explain this sensitivity in terms of radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere. Sulfate aerosols heat the stratospheric layers, causing an increase in stratospheric water vapor content and a reduction in high clouds. These changes are larger when aerosols are prescribed near the tropopause, offsetting part of the aerosol-induced negative radiative forcing/cooling.
Gesa K. Eirund, Anna Possner, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9847–9864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9847-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9847-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Low-level mixed-phase cloud (MPC) properties can be highly affected by the ambient aerosol concentration, especially in pristine environments like the Arctic. By employing high-resolution model simulations we investigate the response of a MPC over an open ocean and a sea ice surface to aerosol perturbations. While we find a strong initial sensitivity to changes in aerosol concentration in both cloud regimes, the magnitude as well as the long-term cloud response depends on the surface condition.
George S. Fanourgakis, Maria Kanakidou, Athanasios Nenes, Susanne E. Bauer, Tommi Bergman, Ken S. Carslaw, Alf Grini, Douglas S. Hamilton, Jill S. Johnson, Vlassis A. Karydis, Alf Kirkevåg, John K. Kodros, Ulrike Lohmann, Gan Luo, Risto Makkonen, Hitoshi Matsui, David Neubauer, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Julia Schmale, Philip Stier, Kostas Tsigaridis, Twan van Noije, Hailong Wang, Duncan Watson-Parris, Daniel M. Westervelt, Yang Yang, Masaru Yoshioka, Nikos Daskalakis, Stefano Decesari, Martin Gysel-Beer, Nikos Kalivitis, Xiaohong Liu, Natalie M. Mahowald, Stelios Myriokefalitakis, Roland Schrödner, Maria Sfakianaki, Alexandra P. Tsimpidi, Mingxuan Wu, and Fangqun Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8591–8617, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8591-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8591-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Effects of aerosols on clouds are important for climate studies but are among the largest uncertainties in climate projections. This study evaluates the skill of global models to simulate aerosol, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and cloud droplet number concentrations (CDNCs). Model results show reduced spread in CDNC compared to CCN due to the negative correlation between the sensitivities of CDNC to aerosol number concentration (air pollution) and updraft velocity (atmospheric dynamics).
Chandan Sarangi, Yun Qian, Karl Rittger, Kathryn J. Bormann, Ying Liu, Hailong Wang, Hui Wan, Guangxing Lin, and Thomas H. Painter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7105–7128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7105-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7105-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Radiative forcing induced by deposition of light-absorbing particles (LAPs) on snow is an important surface forcing. Here, we have used high-resolution WRF-Chem (coupled with online snow–LAP–radiation model) simulations for 2013–2014 to estimate the spatial variation in LAP-induced snow albedo darkening effect in high-mountain Asia. Significant improvement in simulated LAP–snow properties with use of a higher spatial resolution for the same model configuration is illustrated over this region.
Marc Mallet, Pierre Nabat, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, Andrew Mark Sayer, Martin Stengel, Sebastian Schmidt, Sabrina Cochrane, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Kerry Meyer, Pablo Saide, Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Robert Wood, David Saint Martin, Romain Roehrig, Christina Hsu, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4963–4990, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The model is able to represent LWP but not the LCF. AOD is consistent over the continent but also over ocean (ACAOD). Differences are observed in SSA due to the absence of internal mixing in ALADIN-Climate. A significant regional gradient of the forcing at TOA is observed. An intense positive forcing is simulated over Gabon. Results highlight the significant effect of enhanced moisture on BBA extinction. The surface dimming modifies the energy budget.
Yang Yang, Steven J. Smith, Hailong Wang, Catrin M. Mills, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2405–2420, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2405-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2405-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Black carbon (BC) particles exert a potentially large warming influence on the
Earth system. We evaluate regional climate responses, non-linearity, and short-term transient responses to BC emission perturbations. We found that climate responses do not scale linearity with emissions and BC impacts temperature much faster than greenhouse gas forcing. Removing present-day BC emissions results in discernible surface temperature changes for only limited regions of the globe.
Guangjie Zheng, Yang Wang, Allison C. Aiken, Francesca Gallo, Michael P. Jensen, Pavlos Kollias, Chongai Kuang, Edward Luke, Stephen Springston, Janek Uin, Robert Wood, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17615–17635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17615-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we elucidate the key processes that drive marine boundary layer (MBL) aerosol size distribution in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA) using long-term measurements. The governing equations of particle concentration are established for different modes. Particles entrained from the free troposphere represent the major source of MBL cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), contributing both directly to CCN population and indirectly by supplying Aitken-mode particles that grow to CCN in the MBL.
Michael S. Diamond, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer D. Small Griswold, Ashley Heikkila, Steven G. Howell, Mary E. Kacarab, James R. Podolske, Pablo E. Saide, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14623–14636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke from Africa can mix into clouds over the southeast Atlantic and create new droplets, which brightens the clouds, reflects more sunlight, and thus cools the region. Using aircraft data from a NASA field campaign, we find that cloud properties are correlated with smoke as expected when the smoke is below the clouds but not when smoke is above the clouds because it takes several days for clouds to mix smoke downward. We recommend methods that can track clouds as they move for future studies.
Ben Kravitz, Philip J. Rasch, Hailong Wang, Alan Robock, Corey Gabriel, Olivier Boucher, Jason N. S. Cole, Jim Haywood, Duoying Ji, Andy Jones, Andrew Lenton, John C. Moore, Helene Muri, Ulrike Niemeier, Steven Phipps, Hauke Schmidt, Shingo Watanabe, Shuting Yang, and Jin-Ho Yoon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13097–13113, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13097-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13097-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Marine cloud brightening has been proposed as a means of geoengineering/climate intervention, or deliberately altering the climate system to offset anthropogenic climate change. In idealized simulations that highlight contrasts between land and ocean, we find that the globe warms, including the ocean due to transport of heat from land. This study reinforces that no net energy input into the Earth system does not mean that temperature will necessarily remain unchanged.
Robin G. Stevens, Katharina Loewe, Christopher Dearden, Antonios Dimitrelos, Anna Possner, Gesa K. Eirund, Tomi Raatikainen, Adrian A. Hill, Benjamin J. Shipway, Jonathan Wilkinson, Sami Romakkaniemi, Juha Tonttila, Ari Laaksonen, Hannele Korhonen, Paul Connolly, Ulrike Lohmann, Corinna Hoose, Annica M. L. Ekman, Ken S. Carslaw, and Paul R. Field
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11041–11071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11041-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11041-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We perform a model intercomparison of summertime high Arctic clouds. Observed concentrations of aerosol particles necessary for cloud formation fell to extremely low values, coincident with a transition from cloudy to nearly cloud-free conditions. Previous analyses have suggested that at these low concentrations, the radiative properties of the clouds are determined primarily by these particle concentrations. The model results strongly support this hypothesis.
Daniel P. Grosvenor, Odran Sourdeval, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4273–4289, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4273-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4273-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We provide a parameterized correction to the retrieval of cloud effective radius from satellite instruments to account for the assumption that the retrieved value is representative of that at cloud top, whereas in reality it is representative of that lower down. The error leads to errors (which we quantify) in the retrieved cloud droplet concentrations of up to 38 % for stratocumulus regions and also to liquid water path errors, both of which can be corrected using our parameterizations.
Kai Zhang, Philip J. Rasch, Mark A. Taylor, Hui Wan, Ruby Leung, Po-Lun Ma, Jean-Christophe Golaz, Jon Wolfe, Wuyin Lin, Balwinder Singh, Susannah Burrows, Jin-Ho Yoon, Hailong Wang, Yun Qian, Qi Tang, Peter Caldwell, and Shaocheng Xie
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1971–1988, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1971-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1971-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The conservation of total water is an important numerical feature for global Earth system models. Even small conservation problems in the water budget can lead to systematic errors in century-long simulations for sea level rise projection. This study quantifies and reduces various sources of water conservation error in the atmosphere component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model.
Hewen Niu, Shichang Kang, Hailong Wang, Rudong Zhang, Xixi Lu, Yun Qian, Rukumesh Paudyal, Shijin Wang, Xiaofei Shi, and Xingguo Yan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6441–6460, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6441-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6441-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Deposition of light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol on the surface of glaciers can greatly alter the energy fluxes of glaciers. Two years of continuous observations of carbonaceous aerosols in a glacierized region are analyzed. We mainly studied the light absorption properties of carbonaceous aerosol and have employed a global aerosol–climate model to estimate source attributions of atmospheric black carbon.
Daniel T. McCoy, Frida A.-M. Bender, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Johannes K. Mohrmann, Dennis L. Hartmann, Robert Wood, and Paul R. Field
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2035–2047, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2035-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2035-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The interaction between clouds and aerosols represents the largest source of uncertainty in the anthropogenic radiative forcing. Cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) is the state variable that moderates the interaction between aerosol and clouds. Here we show that CDNC decreases off the coasts of East Asia and North America due to controls on emissions. We support this analysis through an examination of volcanism in Hawaii and Vanuatu.
Jeremy Fyke, Jan T. M. Lenaerts, and Hailong Wang
The Cryosphere, 11, 2595–2609, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2595-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2595-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In this CESM modeling study, we uncover regional relationships in snowfall across Antarctica that are corroborated by regional modeling and ice core records. These relationships are driven by variability in large-scale atmospheric moisture transport and dampen overall Antarctic snowfall variability, with implications for Antarctic-sourced sea level variability and detection of an emergent anthropogenic signal in Antarctic mass trends.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Steven J. Smith, Richard Easter, Po-Lun Ma, Yun Qian, Hongbin Yu, Can Li, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8903–8922, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8903-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8903-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Sulfate has significant impacts on air quality and climate. Local sulfate pollution could result from remote influences, making domestic mitigation efforts inefficient. Using CESM with a sulfur source-tagging technique, we found that, over regions with relatively low emissions, sulfate concentrations are primarily attributed to non-local sources and sulfate indirect radiative forcing over the Southern Hemisphere is more sensitive to emission perturbation than the polluted Northern Hemisphere.
Franziska Glassmeier, Anna Possner, Bernhard Vogel, Heike Vogel, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8651–8680, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8651-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8651-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We compare two chemistry and aerosol schemes – one designed for air-quality, the other for climate applications. For distribution, composition and radiative properties, the choice of aerosol types and processes turns out to be more important than their implementation. For aerosol–cloud interactions, we find cloud processes, in particular ice formation, to be the main obstacle to our understanding.
Shi Zhong, Yun Qian, Chun Zhao, Ruby Leung, Hailong Wang, Ben Yang, Jiwen Fan, Huiping Yan, Xiu-Qun Yang, and Dongqing Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5439–5457, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5439-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5439-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
An online climate–chemistry coupled model (WRF-Chem) is integrated for 5 years at cloud-permitting scale to quantify the impacts of urbanization-induced changes in land cover and pollutants emission on regional climate in the Yangtze River Delta region in eastern China. Urbanization over this region increases the frequency of extreme precipitation and heat wave in summer. The results could help China government in making policies in mitigating the environmental impact of urbanization.
Yang Yang, Hailong Wang, Steven J. Smith, Po-Lun Ma, and Philip J. Rasch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4319–4336, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4319-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4319-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The source attributions of black carbon (BC) in China are quantified using the Community Earth System Model by source tagging. BC impacts neighboring regions greatly. Transport is important in increasing BC during regional polluted days. Emissions outside China contribute 35 % of BC direct radiative forcing in China. Efficiency analysis shows that reduction in BC emissions over eastern China could have a greater benefit for regional air quality in China, especially in the winter haze season.
Ben Kravitz, Douglas G. MacMartin, Philip J. Rasch, and Hailong Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2525–2541, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2525-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce system identification techniques to climate science wherein multiple dynamic input–output relationships can be simultaneously characterized in a single simulation. This method, involving multiple small perturbations (in space and time) of an input field while monitoring output fields to quantify responses, allows for identification of different timescales of climate response to forcing without substantially pushing the climate far away from a steady state.
Kuan-Ting O and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7239–7249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7239-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7239-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, based on the well-known formulae of classical nucleation theory (CNT), the temperature at which the mean number of critical embryos inside a droplet is unity is derived from the Boltzmann distribution function and explored as a new simplified approximation for homogeneous freezing temperature. It thus appears that the simplicity of this approximation makes it potentially useful for predicting homogeneous freezing temperatures of water droplets in the atmosphere.
Ben Kravitz, Douglas G. MacMartin, Hailong Wang, and Philip J. Rasch
Earth Syst. Dynam., 7, 469–497, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-469-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-469-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Most simulations of solar geoengineering prescribe a particular strategy and evaluate its modeled effects. Here we first choose example climate objectives and then design a strategy to meet those objectives in climate models. We show that certain objectives can be met simultaneously even in the presence of uncertainty, and the strategy for meeting those objectives can be ported to other models. This is part of a broader illustration of how uncertainties in solar geoengineering can be managed.
N. I. Kristiansen, A. Stohl, D. J. L. Olivié, B. Croft, O. A. Søvde, H. Klein, T. Christoudias, D. Kunkel, S. J. Leadbetter, Y. H. Lee, K. Zhang, K. Tsigaridis, T. Bergman, N. Evangeliou, H. Wang, P.-L. Ma, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, X. Liu, G. Pitari, G. Di Genova, S. Y. Zhao, Y. Balkanski, S. E. Bauer, G. S. Faluvegi, H. Kokkola, R. V. Martin, J. R. Pierce, M. Schulz, D. Shindell, H. Tost, and H. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3525–3561, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3525-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3525-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Processes affecting aerosol removal from the atmosphere are not fully understood. In this study we investigate to what extent atmospheric transport models can reproduce observed loss of aerosols. We compare measurements of radioactive isotopes, that attached to ambient sulfate aerosols during the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, to 19 models using identical emissions. Results indicate aerosol removal that is too fast in most models, and apply to aerosols that have undergone long-range transport.
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.
X. Liu, P.-L. Ma, H. Wang, S. Tilmes, B. Singh, R. C. Easter, S. J. Ghan, and P. J. Rasch
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 505–522, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-505-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-505-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we describe and evaluate a new four-mode version of the Modal Aerosol Module (MAM4) in the Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5). Compared to the current three-mode version of MAM in CAM5, MAM4 significantly improves the simulation of seasonal variation of BC concentrations in the polar regions, by increasing the BC concentrations in all seasons and particularly in cold seasons.
R. Zhang, H. Wang, D. A. Hegg, Y. Qian, S. J. Doherty, C. Dang, P.-L. Ma, P. J. Rasch, and Q. Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12805–12822, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12805-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12805-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We use a global climate model with an explicit source tagging technique to quantify contributions of emissions from various geographical regions and sectors to BC in North America. Model results are evaluated against measurements of near-surface and in-snow BC. We found strong spatial variations of BC and its radiative forcing that can be quantitatively attributed to the various source origins, and also identified a significant source of BC in snow that is likely missing in most climate models.
B. Kravitz, A. Robock, S. Tilmes, O. Boucher, J. M. English, P. J. Irvine, A. Jones, M. G. Lawrence, M. MacCracken, H. Muri, J. C. Moore, U. Niemeier, S. J. Phipps, J. Sillmann, T. Storelvmo, H. Wang, and S. Watanabe
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 3379–3392, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3379-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-3379-2015, 2015
R. Zhang, H. Wang, Y. Qian, P. J. Rasch, R. C. Easter, P.-L. Ma, B. Singh, J. Huang, and Q. Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6205–6223, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6205-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6205-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We use the CAM5 model with a novel source-tagging technique to characterize the fate of BC particles emitted from various geographical regions and sectors and their transport pathways to the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau (HTP). We show a comprehensive picture of the seasonal and regional dependence of BC source attributions, and find strong seasonal and spatial variations in BC-in-snow radiative forcing in the HTP that can be quantitatively attributed to the various regional/sectoral sources.
A. Possner, E. Zubler, U. Lohmann, and C. Schär
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2185–2201, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2185-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2185-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
For the first time, real-case simulations of ship tracks are performed at the 2km scale and evaluated against observations. Simulations show that ship tracks are quantitatively and qualitatively captured by the model. Therefore, this approach could be used to evaluate the interplay between parameterisations for aerosol–cloud interactions which occur, in the case of ship tracks, in spatially defined regions and under constrained environmental conditions.
M. Wang, B. Xu, J. Cao, X. Tie, H. Wang, R. Zhang, Y. Qian, P. J. Rasch, S. Zhao, G. Wu, H. Zhao, D. R. Joswiak, J. Li, and Y. Xie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1191–1204, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1191-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1191-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Carbonaceous aerosols recorded in a Tibetan glacier present a distinct seasonal dependence and an increasing trend after 1980, which has important implications for the accelerated glacier melting. We use a global aerosol--climate model to quantify the aerosol source--receptor relationships, showing that emissions in South Asia had the largest contribution. The emission inventories and historical fuel consumption in South Asia are consistent with our ice-core analysis and model results.
C. Zhao, Z. Hu, Y. Qian, L. Ruby Leung, J. Huang, M. Huang, J. Jin, M. G. Flanner, R. Zhang, H. Wang, H. Yan, Z. Lu, and D. G. Streets
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 11475–11491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-11475-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-11475-2014, 2014
C. R. Terai, C. S. Bretherton, R. Wood, and G. Painter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8071–8088, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8071-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8071-2014, 2014
D. P. Grosvenor and R. Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7291–7321, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7291-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7291-2014, 2014
A. Muhlbauer, I. L. McCoy, and R. Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6695–6716, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6695-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6695-2014, 2014
A. H. Berner, C. S. Bretherton, R. Wood, and A. Muhlbauer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12549–12572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12549-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12549-2013, 2013
G. Bala, N. Devaraju, R. K. Chaturvedi, K. Caldeira, and R. Nemani
Biogeosciences, 10, 7147–7160, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7147-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-10-7147-2013, 2013
C. Zhao, X. Liu, Y. Qian, J. Yoon, Z. Hou, G. Lin, S. McFarlane, H. Wang, B. Yang, P.-L. Ma, H. Yan, and J. Bao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 10969–10987, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10969-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-10969-2013, 2013
C. R. Terai and R. Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9899–9914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9899-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9899-2013, 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
W.-C. Hsieh, W. D. Collins, Y. Liu, J. C. H. Chiang, C.-L. Shie, K. Caldeira, and L. Cao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7489–7510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7489-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7489-2013, 2013
R. C. George, R. Wood, C. S. Bretherton, and G. Painter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6305–6328, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6305-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6305-2013, 2013
H. Wang, R. C. Easter, P. J. Rasch, M. Wang, X. Liu, S. J. Ghan, Y. Qian, J.-H. Yoon, P.-L. Ma, and V. Vinoj
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 765–782, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-765-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-765-2013, 2013
C. H. Twohy, J. R. Anderson, D. W. Toohey, M. Andrejczuk, A. Adams, M. Lytle, R. C. George, R. Wood, P. Saide, S. Spak, P. Zuidema, and D. Leon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2541–2562, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2541-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2541-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Ambient and intrinsic dependencies of evolving ice-phase particles within a decaying winter storm during IMPACTS
High-resolution modeling of early contrail evolution from hydrogen-powered aircraft
Accelerated impact of airborne glaciogenic seeding of stratiform clouds by turbulence
Failed cyclogenesis of a mesoscale convective system near Cabo Verde: the role of the Saharan trade wind layer among other inhibiting factors observed during the CADDIWA field campaign
Sensitivities of simulated mixed-phase Arctic multilayer clouds to primary and secondary ice processes
Assessing glaciogenic seeding impacts in Australia's Snowy Mountains: an ensemble modeling approach
How the representation of microphysical processes affects tropical condensate in the global storm-resolving model ICON
Magnitude and timescale of liquid water path adjustments to cloud droplet number concentration perturbations for nocturnal non-precipitating marine stratocumulus
Cold pools mediate mesoscale adjustments of trade-cumulus fields to changes in cloud droplet number concentration
Numerical case study of the aerosol–cloud interactions in warm boundary layer clouds over the eastern North Atlantic with an interactive chemistry module
Influence of temperature and humidity on contrail formation regions in the general circulation model EMAC: a spring case study
On the impact of thunder on cloud ice crystals and droplets
Counteracting influences of gravitational settling modulate aerosol impacts on cloud-base-lowering fog characteristics
The critical number and size of precipitation embryos to accelerate warm rain initiation
Impact on the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition of the interaction of cloud microphysics and macrophysics with large-scale circulation
Technical note: Phase space depiction of cloud condensation nuclei activation and cloud droplet diffusional growth
Impact of wildfire smoke on Arctic cirrus formation – Part 2: Simulation of MOSAiC 2019–2020 cases
Constraining aerosol–cloud adjustments by uniting surface observations with a perturbed parameter ensemble
Investigating ice formation pathways using a novel two-moment multi-class cloud microphysics scheme
Exploiting airborne far-infrared measurements to optimise an ice cloud retrieval
Microphysics regimes due to haze–cloud interactions: cloud oscillation and cloud collapse
Microphysical fingerprints in anvil cloud albedo
Influence of Secondary Ice Production on cloud and rain properties: Analysis of the HYMEX IOP7a Heavy Precipitation Event
Factors Causing Stratocumulus to Deviate from Subtropical High Variability on Seasonal to Interannual Timescales
The influence of Amazonian anthropogenic emissions on new particle formation, aerosol, cloud and surface rain
Impact of secondary ice production on thunderstorm electrification under different aerosol conditions
Tropical cirrus evolution in a km-scale model with improved ice microphysics
Model analysis of biases in the satellite-diagnosed aerosol effect on the cloud liquid water path
Impacts of aerosol-radiation and aerosol-cloud interactions on a short-term heavy rainfall event – A case study in the Guanzhong Basin, China
Evaluation of biases in mid-to-high-latitude surface snowfall and cloud phase in ERA5 and CMIP6 using satellite observations
Dynamical imprints on precipitation cluster statistics across a hierarchy of high-resolution simulations
Ice formation processes key in determining WCB outflow cirrus properties
Role of a key microphysical factor in mixed-phase stratocumulus clouds and their interactions with aerosols
Investigating the impact of subgrid-scale aerosol-cloud interaction on mesoscale meteorology prediction
Different responses of cold-air outbreak clouds to aerosol and ice production depending on cloud temperature
Identifying Synoptic Controls on Boundary Layer Thermodynamic and Cloud Properties in a Regional Forecast Model
Correction of ERA5 temperature and relative humidity biases by bivariate quantile mapping for contrail formation analysis
Can pollen affect precipitation?
Potential impacts of marine fuel regulations on an Arctic stratocumulus case and its radiative response
The subtleties of three-dimensional radiative effects in contrails and cirrus clouds
The impact of the mesh size and microphysics scheme on the representation of mid-level clouds in the ICON model in hilly and complex terrain
The role of ascent timescales for warm conveyor belt (WCB) moisture transport into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS)
On the Processes Determining the Slope of Cloud-Water Adjustments in Non-Precipitating Stratocumulus
Analysis of raindrop size distribution from the double moment cloud microphysics scheme for monsoon over a tropical station
High sensitivity of simulated fog properties to parameterized aerosol activation in case studies from ParisFog
Adiabatic and radiative cooling are both important causes of aerosol activation in simulated fog events in Europe
Estimating the concentration of silver iodide needed to detect unambiguous signatures of glaciogenic cloud seeding
Ice-nucleating particle concentration impacts cloud properties over Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, in COSMO-CLM2
Numerical simulation of aerosol concentration effects on cloud droplet size spectrum evolutions of warm stratiform clouds in Jiangxi, China
The impact of aerosol on cloud water: a heuristic perspective
Andrew DeLaFrance, Lynn A. McMurdie, Angela K. Rowe, and Andrew J. Heymsfield
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8087–8106, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8087-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Numerical modeling simulations are used to investigate ice crystal growth and decay processes within a banded region of enhanced precipitation rates during a prominent winter storm. We identify robust primary ice growth in the upper portion of the cloud but decay exceeding 70 % during fallout through a subsaturated layer. The ice fall characteristics and decay rate are sensitive to the ambient cloud properties, which has implications for radar-based measurements and precipitation accumulations.
Annemarie Lottermoser and Simon Unterstrasser
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7903–7924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7903-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7903-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Contrail cirrus significantly contributes to aviation's overall climate impact. As hydrogen combustion and fuel cell use are emerging technologies for aircraft propulsion, we simulated individual contrails from hydrogen propulsion during the first 6 min after exhaust emission, termed the vortex phase. The ice crystal loss during that stage is crucial, as the number of ice crystals has a large impact on the further evolution of contrails into contrail cirrus and their radiative forcing.
Meilian Chen, Xiaoqin Jing, Jiaojiao Li, Jing Yang, Xiaobo Dong, Bart Geerts, Yan Yin, Baojun Chen, Lulin Xue, Mengyu Huang, Ping Tian, and Shaofeng Hua
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7581–7596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7581-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7581-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Several recent studies have reported complete cloud glaciation induced by airborne-based glaciogenic cloud seeding over plains. Since turbulence is an important factor to maintain clouds in a mixed phase, it is hypothesized that turbulence may have an impact on the seeding effect. This hypothesis is evident in the present study, which shows that turbulence can accelerate the impact of airborne glaciogenic seeding of stratiform clouds.
Guillaume Feger, Jean-Pierre Chaboureau, Thibaut Dauhut, Julien Delanoë, and Pierre Coutris
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7447–7465, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7447-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7447-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Saharan air at the trade wind layer, cold pools, and dry upper troposphere has these three main factors inhibiting the cyclogenesis of the Pierre Henri mesoscale convective system. The findings were obtained through observations made during two flights of the Clouds-Atmospheric Dynamics-Dust Interactions in West Africa (CADDIWA) campaign and a convection-permitting simulation run with the Meso-NH model. They provide new insights into the complex dynamics of cyclogenesis in the Cabo Verde region and challenge the existing model of the Saharan Air Layer (SAL).
Gabriella Wallentin, Annika Oertel, Luisa Ickes, Peggy Achtert, Matthias Tesche, and Corinna Hoose
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6607–6631, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6607-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6607-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Multilayer clouds are common in the Arctic but remain underrepresented. We use an atmospheric model to simulate multilayer cloud cases from the Arctic expedition MOSAiC 2019/2020. We find that it is complex to accurately model these cloud layers due to the lack of correct temperature profiles. The model also struggles to capture the observed cloud phase and the relative concentration of cloud droplets and cloud ice. We constrain our model to measured aerosols to mitigate this issue.
Sisi Chen, Lulin Xue, Sarah A. Tessendorf, Thomas Chubb, Andrew Peace, Suzanne Kenyon, Johanna Speirs, Jamie Wolff, and Bill Petzke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6703–6724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6703-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6703-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to investigate how cloud seeding affects snowfall in Australia's Snowy Mountains. By running simulations with different setups, we found that seeding impact varies greatly with weather conditions. Seeding increased snow in stable weather but sometimes reduced it in stormy weather. This helps us to better understand when seeding works best to boost water supplies.
Ann Kristin Naumann, Monika Esch, and Bjorn Stevens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6429–6444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6429-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6429-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how uncertainties in the representation of microphysical processes affect the tropical condensate distribution in the global storm-resolving model ICON. The results point to the importance of the fall speed of hydrometeor particles and to a simple relationship: the faster a condensate falls, the less there is of it. Implications for the energy balance and precipitation properties are discussed.
Yao-Sheng Chen, Prasanth Prabhakaran, Fabian Hoffmann, Jan Kazil, Takanobu Yamaguchi, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6141–6159, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6141-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6141-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Injecting sea salt aerosols into marine stratiform clouds can distribute the cloud water over more droplets in smaller sizes. This process is expected to make the clouds brighter, allowing them to reflect more sunlight back to space. However, it may also cause the clouds to lose water over time, reducing their ability to reflect sunlight. We use a computer model to show that the loss of cloud water occurs relatively quickly and does not completely offset the initial brightening.
Pouriya Alinaghi, Fredrik Jansson, Daniel A. Blázquez, and Franziska Glassmeier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6121–6139, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6121-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6121-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Shallow clouds in the trades are a major source of uncertainty in climate projections. These clouds organize into striking mesoscale patterns that are exactly what climate models lack. This study explores the origin of such patterns and investigates how variations in microscale properties control them. The importance of microscale effects is compared to that of large-scale forcing on the mesoscale organization of trade-cumulus fields.
Hsiang-He Lee, Xue Zheng, Shaoyue Qiu, and Yuan Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6069–6091, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6069-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6069-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The study investigates how aerosol–cloud interactions affect warm boundary layer stratiform clouds over the eastern North Atlantic. High-resolution weather model simulations reveal that non-rain clouds at the edge of cloud systems are prone to evaporation, leading to an aerosol drying effect and a transition of aerosols back to the accumulation mode for future activation. The study shows that this dynamic behavior is often not adequately represented in most previous prescribed-aerosol simulations.
Patrick Peter, Sigrun Matthes, Christine Frömming, Patrick Jöckel, Luca Bugliaro, Andreas Giez, Martina Krämer, and Volker Grewe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5911–5934, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5911-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5911-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study examines how well the global climate model EMAC (ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry) predicts contrail formation by analysing temperature and humidity – two key factors for contrail development and persistence. The model underestimates temperature, leading to an overprediction of contrail formation and larger ice-supersaturated regions. Adjusting the model improves temperature accuracy but adds uncertainties. Better predictions of contrail formation areas can help optimise flight tracks to reduce aviation's climate effect.
Konstantinos Kourtidis, Stavros Stathopoulos, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5935–5946, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5935-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5935-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The sound of thunder induces mechanical effects on cloud droplets and ice particles, causing changes in their size distribution. A shock wave near the lightning channel causes extensive shattering of cloud particles. At a distance, the audio wave will cause agglomeration of particles. So, thunder may influence the rain generation process and the radiative properties of clouds. As global warming may influence the occurrence rate of lightning, a climate feedback may be induced by these mechanisms.
Nathan H. Pope and Adele L. Igel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5433–5444, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5433-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5433-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We used an atmospheric model that simulates a single column to study the sensitivity of marine fog formed through the lowering of the base of a stratus cloud to meteorology and aerosols. We found that higher aerosol concentration reduces the likelihood and duration of fog but leads to denser fog. This overall trend was caused by multiple physical mechanisms depending on conditions.
Jung-Sub Lim, Yign Noh, Hyunho Lee, and Fabian Hoffmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5313–5329, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5313-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5313-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Rain formation in warm clouds begins when small droplets collide, but this process can be slow without larger droplets. We used simulations to explore the role of bigger droplets, known as precipitation embryos, in triggering rain. We found that they speed up rain only when their size and number exceed a critical threshold. This threshold becomes larger when collisions are naturally efficient, such as in clouds with broad droplet size distributions or strong turbulence.
Je-Yun Chun, Robert Wood, Peter N. Blossey, and Sarah J. Doherty
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5251–5271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5251-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5251-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how aerosols affect clouds transitioning from stratocumulus to cumulus along trade winds under varying atmospheric conditions. We found that aerosols typically reduce precipitation and raise cloud height, but their impact changes when subsidence changes by aerosol enhancement are considered. Our findings indicate that the cooling effect of aerosols might be overestimated if these atmospheric changes are not accounted for.
Wojciech W. Grabowski and Hanna Pawlowska
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5273–5285, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5273-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5273-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A simple diagram to depict cloud droplets' formation via the activation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) as well as their subsequent growth and evaporation is presented.
Albert Ansmann, Cristofer Jimenez, Daniel A. Knopf, Johanna Roschke, Johannes Bühl, Kevin Ohneiser, and Ronny Engelmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4867–4884, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4867-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4867-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we focus on the potential impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus formation. Aerosol and cirrus observations with lidar and radar during the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition, presented in the companion paper (Ansmann et al., 2025), are closely linked to comprehensive modeling of ice nucleation in cirrus evolution processes, presented in this article. A clear impact of wildfire smoke on cirrus formation was found.
August Mikkelsen, Daniel T. McCoy, Trude Eidhammer, Andrew Gettelman, Ci Song, Hamish Gordon, and Isabel L. McCoy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4547–4570, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4547-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4547-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Whether increased aerosol increases or decreases liquid cloud mass has been a longstanding question. Observed correlations suggest that aerosols thin liquid cloud, but we are able to show that observations were consistent with an increase in liquid cloud in response to aerosols by leveraging a model where causality could be traced.
Tim Lüttmer, Peter Spichtinger, and Axel Seifert
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4505–4529, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4505-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4505-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate ice formation pathways in idealized convective clouds using a novel microphysics scheme that distinguishes between five ice classes each with their own unique formation mechanism. Ice crystals from rime splintering form the lowermost layer of ice crystals around the updraft core. The majority of ice crystals in the anvil of the convective cloud stems from frozen droplets. Ice stemming from homogeneous and deposition nucleation was only relevant in the overshoot.
Sanjeevani Panditharatne, Helen Brindley, Caroline Cox, Rui Song, Richard Siddans, Richard Bantges, Jonathan Murray, Stuart Fox, and Cathryn Fox
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-647, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-647, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Upwelling radiation with wavelengths between 15 and 100 microns is theorised to be highly sensitive to the properties of ice clouds, particularly the shape of the ice crystals. We exploit this sensitivity and perform the first retrieval of ice cloud properties using these wavelengths from an observation taken on an aircraft and evaluate it against measurements of the cloud’s properties.
Fan Yang, Hamed Fahandezh Sadi, Raymond A. Shaw, Fabian Hoffmann, Pei Hou, Aaron Wang, and Mikhail Ovchinnikov
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3785–3806, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3785-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3785-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Large-eddy simulations of a convection cloud chamber show two new microphysics regimes, cloud oscillation and cloud collapse, due to haze–cloud interactions. Our results suggest that haze particles and their interactions with cloud droplets should be considered especially in polluted conditions. To properly simulate haze–cloud interactions, we need to resolve droplet activation and deactivation processes, instead of using Twomey-type activation parameterization.
Declan L. Finney, Alan M. Blyth, Paul R. Field, Martin I. Daily, Benjamin J. Murray, Mengyu Sun, Paul J. Connolly, Zhiqiang Cui, and Steven Böing
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1227, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1227, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present observation-informed modelling from the Deep Convective Microphysics Experiment to study how environmental conditions and cloud processes affect anvil cloud albedo and radiation. Aerosols influencing cloud droplets or influencing ice formation yield varying radiative effects. We introduce fingerprint metrics to discern these effects. Using detailed observations and modelling, we offer insights into high cloud radiative effects and feedbacks.
Pierre Grzegorczyk, Wolfram Wobrock, Aymeric Dziduch, and Céline Planche
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-819, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-819, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of secondary ice production (SIP) on a HYMEX intense precipitation event is investigated using 3D bin microphysics. Including SIP improves agreement with in situ aircraft observations (ice crystal number concentration and supercooled drop number fraction), generates small ice crystals and redistributes condensed water mass toward smaller particle sizes. As these crystals melt, the liquid precipitation flux decreases, reducing total precipitation by 8 % and heavy rainfall by 20 %.
Hairu Ding, Bjorn Stevens, and Hauke Schmidt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-876, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-876, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study examines the physical link between subtropical highs and stratocumulus variability. Using reanalysis data, we test two proposed pathways—one at the surface and one in the free troposphere—but find that neither is a dominant mechanism for stratocumulus variability on seasonal and interannual timescales. These results challenge the assumed influence of subtropical highs on stratocumulus and highlight the need for further research into lower tropospheric stability dynamics.
Xuemei Wang, Kenneth S. Carslaw, Daniel P. Grosvenor, and Hamish Gordon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-132, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-132, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic emissions can influence aerosol particle number concentrations via new particle formation. Our model simulations predict around 10 % increase of the particle and cloud droplet number concentrations when doubling the emissions in the Manaus region in the Amazonian wet season. However, the corresponding changes in cloud water and rain mass are around 4 %. Such weak response implied that this convective environment is not sensitive to the localised anthropogenic emission changes here.
Shiye Huang, Jing Yang, Jiaojiao Li, Qian Chen, Qilin Zhang, and Fengxia Guo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1831–1850, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1831-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1831-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol and secondary ice production are both vital to charge separation in thunderstorms, but the relative importance of different SIP processes to cloud electrification under different aerosol conditions is not well understood. In this study, we show in a clean environment, the shattering of freezing drops has the greatest effect on the charging rate, while in a polluted environment, both rime splintering and the shattering of freezing drops have a significant effect on cloud electrification.
Blaž Gasparini, Rachel Atlas, Aiko Voigt, Martina Krämer, and Peter N. Blossey
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-203, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-203, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical cirrus clouds, especially their evolution, are poorly understood, contributing to uncertainty in climate projections. We address this by using novel tracers in a cloud-resolving model to track the life cycle of cirrus clouds, providing insights into cloud formation, ice crystal evolution, and radiative effects. We also improve the model's cloud microphysics with a simple, computationally efficient approach that can be applied to other models.
Harri Kokkola, Juha Tonttila, Silvia M. Calderón, Sami Romakkaniemi, Antti Lipponen, Aapo Peräkorpi, Tero Mielonen, Edward Gryspeerdt, Timo Henrik Virtanen, Pekka Kolmonen, and Antti Arola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1533–1543, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1533-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1533-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how atmospheric aerosols affect clouds is a scientific challenge. One question is how aerosols affects the amount of cloud water. We used a cloud-scale model to study these effects on marine clouds. The study showed that variations in cloud properties and instrument noise can cause bias in satellite-derived cloud water content. However, our results suggest that for similar weather conditions with well-defined aerosol concentrations, satellite data can reliably track these effects.
Naifang Bei, Bo Xiao, Ruonan Wang, Yuning Yang, Lang Liu, Yongming Han, and Guohui Li
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3558, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3558, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses a cloud-resolving model to examine how aerosols influence a mesoscale convective system (MCS) in central China via aerosol-radiation (ARIs) and aerosol-cloud interactions (ACIs). Without ARIs, added aerosols don’t significantly affect precipitation due to cloud competition for moisture. ARIs can stabilize or enhance convection. High aerosol levels lead to a combined ARI and ACI effect that greatly reduces precipitation.
Franziska Hellmuth, Tim Carlsen, Anne Sophie Daloz, Robert Oscar David, Haochi Che, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1353–1383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This article compares the occurrence of supercooled liquid-containing clouds (sLCCs) and their link to surface snowfall in CloudSat–CALIPSO, ERA5, and the CMIP6 models. Significant discrepancies were found, with ERA5 and CMIP6 consistently overestimating sLCC and snowfall frequency. This bias is likely due to cloud microphysics parameterization. This conclusion has implications for accurately representing cloud phase and snowfall in future climate projections.
Claudia Christine Stephan and Bjorn Stevens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1209–1226, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1209-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1209-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical precipitation cluster area and intensity distributions follow power laws, but the physical processes responsible for this behavior remain unknown. We analyze global simulations that realistically represent precipitation processes. We consider Earth-like planets as well as virtual planets to realize different types of large-scale dynamics. Our finding is that power laws in Earth’s precipitation cluster statistics stem from the robust power laws in Earth’s atmospheric wind field.
Tim Lüttmer, Annette Miltenberger, and Peter Spichtinger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-185, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-185, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate ice formation pathways in a warm conveyor belt case study. We employ a multi-phase microphysics scheme that distinguishes between ice from different nucleation processes. Ice crystals in the cirrus outflow mostly stem from in-situ formation. Hence they were formed directly from the vapor phase. Sedimentational redistribution modulates cirrus properties and leads to a disagreement between cirrus origin classifications based on thermodynamic history and nucleation processes.
Seoung Soo Lee, Chang Hoon Jung, Jinho Choi, Young Jun Yoon, Junshik Um, Youtong Zheng, Jianping Guo, Manguttathil G. Manoj, Sang-Keun Song, and Kyung-Ja Ha
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 705–726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-705-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-705-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study attempts to test a general factor that explains differences in the properties of different mixed-phase clouds using a modeling tool. Although this attempt is not to identify a factor that can perfectly explain and represent the properties of different mixed-phase clouds, we believe that this attempt acts as a valuable stepping stone towards a more complete, general way of using climate models to better predict climate change.
Wenjie Zhang, Hong Wang, Xiaoye Zhang, Yue Peng, Zhaodong Liu, Deying Wang, Da Zhang, Chen Han, Yang Zhao, Junting Zhong, Wenxing Jia, Huiqiong Ning, and Huizheng Che
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3677, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3677, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We implement a real-time subgrid-scale aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) mechanism in a mesoscale atmospheric chemistry system and find that subgrid-scale ACI can improve meteorological factors predictions. This study demonstrates the importance of real-time subgrid-scale ACI to weather forecast and the necessity of multiscale ACI studies.
Xinyi Huang, Paul R. Field, Benjamin J. Murray, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Floortje van den Heuvel, and Kenneth S. Carslaw
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4070, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4070, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Cold-air outbreak (CAO) clouds play a vital role in climate prediction. This study explores the responses of CAO clouds to aerosols and ice production under different environmental conditions. We found that CAO cloud responses vary with cloud temperature and are strongly controlled by the liquid-ice partitioning in these clouds, suggesting the importance of good representations of cloud microphysics properties to predict the behaviours of CAO clouds in a warming climate.
Jordan Eissner, David Mechem, Yi Jin, Virendra Ghate, and James Booth
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3438, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3438, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Low-level clouds have important radiative feedbacks and can occur in a range of meteorological conditions, yet our knowledge and prediction of them are insufficient. We evaluate model forecasts of low-level cloud properties across a cold front and the associated environments that they form in. The model represents the meteorological conditions well and produces broken clouds behind the cold front in areas of strong surface forcing, large stability, and large-scale subsiding motion.
Kevin Wolf, Nicolas Bellouin, Olivier Boucher, Susanne Rohs, and Yun Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 157–181, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-157-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-157-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis and airborne in situ observations from IAGOS are compared in terms of the representation of the contrail formation potential and the presence of supersaturation. Differences are traced back to biases in ERA5 relative humidity fields. Those biases are addressed by applying a quantile mapping technique that significantly improved contrail estimation based on post-processed ERA5 data.
Marje Prank, Juha Tonttila, Xiaoxia Shang, Sami Romakkaniemi, and Tomi Raatikainen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 183–197, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-183-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-183-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Large primary bioparticles such as pollen can be abundant in the atmosphere. In humid conditions pollen can rupture and release a large number of fine sub-pollen particles (SPPs). The paper investigates what kind of birch pollen concentrations are needed for the pollen and SPPs to start playing a noticeable role in cloud processes and alter precipitation formation. In the studied cases only the largest observed pollen concentrations were able to noticeably alter the precipitation formation.
Luís Filipe Escusa dos Santos, Hannah C. Frostenberg, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Annica M. L. Ekman, Luisa Ickes, and Erik S. Thomson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 119–142, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-119-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-119-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is experiencing enhanced surface warming. The observed decline in Arctic sea-ice extent is projected to lead to an increase in Arctic shipping activity, which may lead to further climatic feedbacks. Using an atmospheric model and results from marine engine experiments that focused on fuel sulfur content reduction and exhaust wet scrubbing, we investigate how ship exhaust particles influence the properties of Arctic clouds. Implications for radiative surface processes are discussed.
Julie Carles, Nicolas Bellouin, Najda Villefranque, and Jean-Louis Dufresne
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3642, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3642, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Cirrus and contrails affect Earth’s energy balance with a lot of remaining uncertainty. The balance between solar and terrestrial radiation is delicate to calculate, and factors as cloud optical depth, shape, Sun position are crucial to estimate the effect of those clouds on radiation. Also, often neglected three dimensional paths of radiation, or 3D effects, may be important to account for at climatic scale.
Nadja Omanovic, Brigitta Goger, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 14145–14175, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14145-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the numerical weather model ICON in two horizontal resolutions with two bulk microphysics schemes over hilly and complex terrain in Switzerland and Austria, respectively. We focused on the model's ability to simulate mid-level clouds in summer and winter. By combining observational data from two different field campaigns, we show that an increase in the horizontal resolution and a more advanced cloud microphysics scheme is strongly beneficial for cloud representation.
Cornelis Schwenk and Annette Miltenberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 14073–14099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14073-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14073-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) transport moisture into the upper atmosphere, where it acts as a greenhouse gas. This transport is not well understood, and the role of rapidly rising air is unclear. We simulate a WCB and look at fast- and slow-rising air to see how moisture is (differently) transported. We find that for fast-ascending air more ice particles reach higher into the atmosphere and that frozen cloud particles are removed differently than during slow ascent, which has more water vapour.
Fabian Hoffmann, Yao-Sheng Chen, and Graham Feingold
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3893, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3893, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds reflect a substantial portion of the incoming solar radiation back into space. This capacity is determined by the number of cloud droplets, which in turn is influenced by the number of aerosol particles, forming the basis for aerosol-cloud-climate interactions. In this study, we use a simple mixed-layer approach to understand the effect of aerosol on cloud water in non-precipitating stratocumulus.
Kadavathu Sreekumar Apsara, Jayakumar Aravindakshan, Anurose Theethai Jacob, Saji Mohandas, Paul Field, Hamish Gordan, Thara Prabhakaran, Mahen Konwar, and Vijapurap Srinivasa Prasad
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3538, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3538, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Science has made significant strides in weather prediction, especially for intense tropical rainfall that can lead to floods and landslides. Our study aims to improve monsoon rainfall forecasts by analyzing raindrop sizes. Using a new approach to model raindrop growth, we achieved a more accurate depiction of large rainfall events. These improvements can be generalized to enhance early warning systems, offering reliable predictions that help reduce risks from severe tropical weather events.
Pratapaditya Ghosh, Ian Boutle, Paul Field, Adrian Hill, Anthony Jones, Marie Mazoyer, Katherine J. Evans, Salil Mahajan, Hyun-Gyu Kang, Min Xu, Wei Zhang, Noah Asch, and Hamish Gordon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3376, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3376, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We study aerosol-fog interactions near Paris using a weather and climate model with high spatial resolution. We show that our model can simulate fog lifecycle effectively. We find that the fog droplet number concentrations, the amount of liquid water in the fog, and the vertical structure of the fog are highly sensitive to the parameterization that simulates droplet formation and growth. The changes we propose could improve fog forecasts significantly without increasing computational costs.
Pratapaditya Ghosh, Ian Boutle, Paul Field, Adrian Hill, Marie Mazoyer, Katherine J. Evans, Salil Mahajan, Hyun-Gyu Kang, Min Xu, Wei Zhang, and Hamish Gordon
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3397, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3397, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We study the lifecycle of fog events in Europe using a weather and climate model. By incorporating droplet formation and growth driven by radiative cooling, our model better simulates the total liquid water in foggy atmospheric columns. We show that both adiabatic and radiative cooling play significant, often equally important roles in driving droplet formation and growth. We discuss strategies to address droplet number overpredictions, by improving model physics and addressing model artifacts.
Jing Yang, Jiaojiao Li, Meilian Chen, Xiaoqin Jing, Yan Yin, Bart Geerts, Zhien Wang, Yubao Liu, Baojun Chen, Shaofeng Hua, Hao Hu, Xiaobo Dong, Ping Tian, Qian Chen, and Yang Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13833–13848, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13833-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13833-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Detecting unambiguous signatures is vital for examining cloud-seeding impacts, but often, seeding signatures are immersed in natural variability. In this study, reflectivity changes induced by glaciogenic seeding using different AgI concentrations are investigated under various conditions, and a method is developed to estimate the AgI concentration needed to detect unambiguous seeding signatures. The results aid in operational seeding-based decision-making regarding the amount of AgI dispersed.
Florian Sauerland, Niels Souverijns, Anna Possner, Heike Wex, Preben Van Overmeiren, Alexander Mangold, Kwinten Van Weverberg, and Nicole van Lipzig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13751–13768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a regional climate model, COSMO-CLM², enhanced with a module resolving aerosol processes, to study Antarctic clouds. We prescribe different concentrations of ice-nucleating particles to our model to assess how these clouds respond to concentration changes, validating results with cloud and aerosol observations from the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station. Our results show that aerosol–cloud interactions vary with temperature, providing valuable insights into Antarctic cloud dynamics.
Yi Li, Xiaoli Liu, and Hengjia Cai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13525–13540, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13525-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13525-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of different aerosol modes on cloud processes remains controversial. We modified the aerosol spectra and concentrations to simulate a warm stratiform cloud process in Jiangxi, China, using the WRF-SBM scheme. Research shows that different aerosol spectra have diverse effects on cloud droplet spectra, cloud development, and the correlation between dispersion (ε) and cloud physics quantities. Compared to cloud droplet concentration, ε is more sensitive to the volume radius.
Fabian Hoffmann, Franziska Glassmeier, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13403–13412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds constitute a major cooling influence on Earth's climate system by reflecting a large fraction of the incident solar radiation back to space. This ability is controlled by the number of cloud droplets, which is governed by the number of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, laying the foundation for so-called aerosol–cloud–climate interactions. In this study, a simple model to understand the effect of aerosol on cloud water is developed and applied.
Cited articles
Berner, A. H., Bretherton, C. S., and Wood, R.: Large eddy simulation of ship tracks in the
collapsed marine boundary layer: a case study from the Monterey Area Ship Track Experiment, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5851–5871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5851-2015, 2015. a, b, c
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., Qin, D.,
Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P.
M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2013. a
Campmany, E., Grainger, R. G., Dean, S. M., and Sayer, A. M.: Automatic detection
of ship tracks in ATSR-2 satellite imagery, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 1899–1905, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-1899-2009, 2009. a
Charlson, R. J., Ackerman, A. S., Bender, F. A.-M., Anderson, T. L., and Liu,
Z.: On the climate forcing consequences of the albedo continuum between
cloudy and clear air, Tellus B, 59, 715–727,
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2007.00297.x, 2007. a
Chen, Y.-C., Christensen, M. W., Xue, L., Sorooshian, A., Stephens, G. L.,
Rasmussen, R. M., and Seinfeld, J. H.: Occurrence of lower cloud albedo
in ship tracks, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 8223–8235, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-8223-2012, 2012. a
Christensen, M. and Stephens, G.: Microphysical and macrophysical responses of
marine stratocumulus polluted by underlying ships: 2. Impacts of haze on
precipitating clouds, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D11203,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014638, 2011. a
Christensen, M. and Stephens, G.: Microphysical and macrophysical responses of
marine stratocumulus polluted by underlying ships: evidence of cloud
deepening, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D03201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD017125, 2012. a, b, c, d
Coakley, J. A. and Walsh, C. D.: Limits to the aerosol indirect radiative
effect derived from observations of ship tracks, J. Atmos. Sci., 59,
668–680, 2002. a
Conover, J. H.: Anomalous cloud lines, J. Atmos. Sci., 23, 778–785, 1966. a
Durkee, P. A., Chartier, R. E., Brown, A., Trehubenko, E. J., Rogerson, S. D.,
Skupniewicz, C., and Nielsen, K. E.: Composite Ship Track Characteristics, J.
Atmos. Sci., 57, 2542–2553, 2000a. a
Durkee, P. A., Noone, K. J., Ferek, R. J., Johnson, D. W., Taylor, J. P.,
Garrett, T. J., Hobbs, P. V., Hudson, J. G., Bretherton, C. S., Innis, G.,
Frick, G. M., Hoppel, W. A., O'Dowd, C. D., Russel, L. M., Gasparovic, R.,
Nielsen, K. E., Tessmer, S. A., Öström, E., Osborne, S. R., Flagan, R. C.,
Seinfeld, J. H., and Rand, H.: The impact of ship-produced aerosols on the
microstructure and albedo of warm marine stratocumulus clouds: A test of
MAST hypothesis 1i and 1ii, J. Atmos. Sci., 57, 2542–2553,
2000c. a
European Maritime Safety Agency: Equasis Statistics – The world merchant
fleet in 2014, available at: http://www.emsa.europa.eu/ (last access:
21 February 2018), 2014. a
Feingold, G., Koren, I., Yamaguchi, T., and Kazil, J.: On the reversibility of
transitions between closed and open cellular convection, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7351–7367, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7351-2015, 2015. a, b
Ghan, S., Wang, M., Zhang, S., Ferrachat, S., Gettelman, A., Griesfeller, J.,
Kipling, Z., Lohmann, U., Morrison, H., Neubauer, D., Partridge, D. G.,
Stier, P., Takemura, T., Wang, H., and Zhang, K.: Challenges in constraining
anthropogenic aerosol effects on cloud radiative forcing using present-day
spatiotemporal variability, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,
113, 5804–5811, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1514036113, 2016. a
Goren, T. and Rosenfeld, D.: Satellite observations of ship emissions induced
transitions from broken to closed cell marine stratocumulus over large areas,
J. Geophys. Res., 117, D17206, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017981, 2012. a, b
Kazil, J., Wang, H., Feingold, G., Clarke, A. D., Snider, J. R., and Bandy, A. R.:
Modeling chemical and aerosol processes in the transition from closed to open cells
during VOCALS-REx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 7491–7514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-7491-2011, 2011. a, b
Khairoutdinov, M. and Kogan, Y.: A new cloud physics parameterization in a
large-eddy simulation model of marine stratocumulus, Mon. Weather Rev.,
128, 229–243, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(2000)128<0229:ANCPPI>2.0.CO;2, 2000. a
Koren, I., Remer, L. A., Kaufman, Y. J., Rudich, Y., and Martins, J. V.: On the
twilight zone between clouds and aerosols, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, l08805,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL029253, 2007. a
Kravitz, B., Wang, H., Rasch, P., Morrison, H., and Solomon, A.: Process-model
simulations of cloud albedo enhancement by aerosols in the Arctic, Phil.
T. R. Soc. A, 372, 1–24, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0052, 2014. a
Lauer, A., Eyring, V., Hendricks, J., Jöckel, P., and Lohmann, U.: Global model
simulations of the impact of ocean-going ships on aerosols, clouds, and the
radiation budget, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 5061–5079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-5061-2007, 2007. a
Malavelle, F. F., Haywood, J. M., Jones, A., Gettelman, A., Clarisse, L.,
Bauduin, S., Allan, R. P., Karset, I. H. H., Kristjánsson, J. E.,
Oreopoulos, L., Cho, N., Lee, D., Bellouin, N., Boucher, O., Grosvenor,
D. P., Carslaw, K. S., Dhomse, S., Mann, G. W., Schmidt, A., Coe, H.,
Hartley, M. E., Dalvi, M., Hill, A. A., Johnson, B. T., Johnson, C. E.,
Knight, J. R., O'Connor, F. M., Partridge, D. G., Stier, P., Myhre, G.,
Platnick, S., Stephens, G. L., Takahashi, H., and Thordarson, T.: Erratum:
Strong constraints on aerosol–cloud interactions from volcanic eruptions,
Nature, 546, 485–491, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24275, 2017. a
McCoy, I. L., Wood, R., and Fletcher, J. K.: Identifying meteorological
controls on open and closed mesoscale cellular convection associated with
marine cold air outbreaks, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122,
11678–11702, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027031, 2017. a
Morrison, H., Thompson, G., and Tatarskii, V.: Impact of cloud microphysics on
the development of trailing stratiform precipitation in a simulated squall
line: comparison of one- and two-moment schemes, Mon. Weather Rev., 137,
991–1007, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008MWR2556.1, 2009. a
Muhlbauer, A., McCoy, I. L., and Wood, R.: Climatology of stratocumulus cloud
morphologies: microphysical properties and radiative effects, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6695–6716, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6695-2014, 2014. a, b, c, d
Myhre, G., Shindell, D., Bréon, F.-M., Collins, W., Fuglestvedt, J., Huang,
J., Koch, D., Lamarque, J.-F., Lee, D., Mendoza, B., Nakajima, T., Robock,
A., Stephens, G., Takemura, T., and Zhang, H.: Anthropogenic and natural
radiative forcing, book section 8, 659–740, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA,
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.018, 2013. a
Nam, C., Bony, S., Dufresne, J.-L., and Chepfer, H.: The `too few, too bright'
tropical low-cloud problem in CMIP5 models, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39,
L21801, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL053421, 2012. a
NASA: SeaWinds on QuickSCAT Level 3 surface wind speed for climate model comparison, Ver. 1. PO.DAAC, CA, USA,
https://doi.org/10.5067/QSSWS-CMIP1, 2012. a
Partanen, A. I., Laakso, A., Schmidt, A., Kokkola, H., Kuokkanen, T., Pietikäinen, J.-P.,
Kerminen, V.-M., Lehtinen, K. E. J., Laakso, L., and Korhonen, H.:
Climate and air quality trade-offs in altering ship fuel sulfur
content, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12059–12071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12059-2013, 2013. a
Peters, K., Quaas, J., and Graßl, H.: A search for large-scale effects of
ship emissions on clouds and radiation in satellite data, J. Geophys. Res.,
116, D24205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016531, 2011. a
Peters, K., Stier, P., Quaas, J., and Graßl, H.: Aerosol indirect effects from
shipping emissions: sensitivity studies with the global aerosol-climate
model ECHAM-HAM, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 5985–6007, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-5985-2012, 2012. a
Platnick, S. and Twomey, S.: Determining the susceptibility of cloud albedo to
changes in droplet concentration with the Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer, J. Appl. Meteorol., 33, 334–347,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1994)033<0334:DTSOCA>2.0.CO;2, 1994. a
Righi, M., Klinger, C., Eyring, V., Hendricks, J., Lauer, A., and Petzold, A.:
Climate impact of biofuels in shipping: global model studies of the aerosol
indirect effect, Environ. Sci. Technol., 45, 3519–3525, 2011. a
Salter, S., Sortino, G., and Latham, J.: Sea-going hardware for the cloud
albedo method of reversing global warming, Philos. T.
R. Soc. A,
366, 3989–4006, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2008.0136,
2008. a
Schneider, T., Teixeira, J., Bretherton, C. S., Pressel, K. G., Schär, C.,
and Siebesma, A. P.: Climate goals and computing the future of clouds, Nat.
Clim. Change, 7, 3–5, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3190, 2017. a
Schreier, M., Kokhanovsky, A. A., Eyring, V., Bugliaro, L., Mannstein, H., Mayer, B.,
Bovensmann, H., and Burrows, J. P.: Impact of ship emissions on the microphysical,
optical and radiative properties of marine stratus: a case
study, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 4925–4942, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-4925-2006, 2006. a
Schreier, M., Mannstein, H., Eyring, V., and Bovensmann, H.: Global ship track
distribution and radiative forcing from 1 year of AATSR data, Geophys. Res.
Lett., 34, L17814, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL030664, 2007. a
Terai, C. R., Bretherton, C. S., Wood, R., and Painter, G.: Aircraft observations of
aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and boundary layer properties in pockets of
open cells over the Southeast Pacific, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8071–8088, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8071-2014, 2014. a
Wang, H., Feingold, G., Wood, R., and Kazil, J.: Modelling microphysical and meteorological
controls on precipitation and cloud cellular structures in Southeast Pacific
stratocumulus, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 6347–6362, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-6347-2010, 2010. a, b, c, d
Wang, H., Rasch, P. J., and Feingold, G.: Manipulating marine stratocumulus cloud amount
and albedo: a process-modelling study of aerosol-cloud-precipitation
interactions in response to injection of cloud condensation
nuclei, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 4237–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-4237-2011, 2011. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k
Wang, M., Ghan, S., Liu, X., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Zhang, K., Morrison, H.,
Ovchinnikov, M., Easter, R., Marchand, R., Chand, D., Quian, Y., and Penner,
J. E.: Constraining cloud lifetime effects of aerosols using A-Train
satellite observations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, 15, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012GL052204,
2012. a
Wood, R.: Drizzle in Stratiform Boundary Layer Clouds. Part II: Microphysical
Aspects, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 3034–3050,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3530.1,
2005. a
Wood, R.: Review: Stratocumulus Clouds, Mon. Weather Rev., 140, 2373–2423, 2012. a
Wood, R. and Hartmann, D. L.: Spatial Variability of Liquid Water Path in
Marine Low Cloud: The Importance of Mesoscale Cellular Convection, J.
Climate, 19, 1748–1764, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3702.1, 2006. a
Wood, R., Bretherton, C. S., Leon, D., Clarke, A. D., Zuidema, P., Allen, G., and Coe, H.:
An aircraft case study of the spatial transition from closed to open mesoscale
cellular convection over the Southeast Pacific, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 2341–2370, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2341-2011, 2011a. a, b, c
Wood, R., Mechoso, C. R., Bretherton, C. S., Weller, R. A., Huebert, B., Straneo, F.,
Albrecht, B. A., Coe, H., Allen, G., Vaughan, G., Daum, P., Fairall, C., Chand, D.,
Gallardo Klenner, L., Garreaud, R., Grados, C., Covert, D. S., Bates, T. S., Krejci, R.,
Russell, L. M., de Szoeke, S., Brewer, A., Yuter, S. E., Springston, S. R., Chaigneau, A.,
Toniazzo, T., Minnis, P., Palikonda, R., Abel, S. J., Brown, W. O. J., Williams, S.,
Fochesatto, J., Brioude, J., and Bower, K. N.: The VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land
Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx): goals, platforms, and field
operations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 627–654, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-627-2011, 2011b. a, b
Wood, R., O, K.-T., Christopher, S. B., Mohrmann, J., Albrecht, B. A., Zuidema,
P., Ghate, V., Schwartz, C., Eloranta, E., Glienke, S., Shaw, R., Fugal, J.,
and Minnis, P.: Ultraclean layers and optically thin clouds in the
stratocumulus to cumulus transition: part I. Observations, J.
Atmos. Sci., 0, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-17-0213.1, 2018.
a, b
Zuidema, P., Redemann, J., Haywood, J., Wood, R., Piketh, S., Hipondoka, M.,
and Formenti, P.: Smoke and clouds above the Southeast Atlantic: Upcoming field campaigns probe
absorbing aerosol's impact on climate, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 97, 1131–1135,
https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00082.1, 2016. a
Short summary
We quantify aerosol–cloud radiative interactions in a regime of deep open-cell stratocumuli (boundary layer depth 1.5 km), a regime which remains largely unexplored within this context and yet is more dominant than cases of shallow stratocumuli previously studied. We simulate substantial increases in albedo in a regime where ship tracks are not found and argue that such changes may escape detection and attribution through remote sensing due to the large natural variability in the system.
We quantify aerosol–cloud radiative interactions in a regime of deep open-cell stratocumuli...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint