Articles | Volume 21, issue 15
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12049-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12049-2021
Research article
 | 
11 Aug 2021
Research article |  | 11 Aug 2021

Preconditioning of overcast-to-broken cloud transitions by riming in marine cold air outbreaks

Florian Tornow, Andrew S. Ackerman, and Ann M. Fridlind

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Cited articles

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Short summary
Cold air outbreaks affect the local energy budget by forming bright boundary layer clouds that, once it rains, evolve into dimmer, broken cloud fields that are depleted of condensation nuclei – an evolution consistent with closed-to-open cell transitions. We find that cloud ice accelerates this evolution, primarily via riming prior to rain onset, which (1) reduces liquid water, (2) reduces condensation nuclei, and (3) leads to early precipitation cooling and moistening below cloud.
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