Articles | Volume 21, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
04 Feb 2021
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 04 Feb 2021

An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions in the southeast Atlantic basin

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

Related authors

Atmospheric processing and aerosol aging responsible for observed increase in absorptivity of long-range transported smoke over the southeast Atlantic
Abdulamid A. Fakoya, Jens Redemann, Pablo E. Saide, Lan Gao, Logan T. Mitchell, Calvin Howes, Amie Dobracki, Ian Chang, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Kristina Pistone, Samuel E. Leblanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Thomas Eck, Brent Holben, Pawan Gupta, Elena Lind, Paquita Zuidema, Gregory Carmichael, and Connor J. Flynn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3197,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3197, 2025
Short summary
Retrieving UV–Vis spectral single-scattering albedo of absorbing aerosols above clouds from synergy of ORACLES airborne and A-train sensors
Hiren T. Jethva, Omar Torres, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Anthony L. Cook, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Jens Redemann, Vinay Kayetha, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Logan Mitchell, and Connor J. Flynn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2335–2366, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2335-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2335-2024, 2024
Short summary
Biomass-burning smoke's properties and its interactions with marine stratocumulus clouds in WRF-CAM5 and southeastern Atlantic field campaigns
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
An attribution of the low single-scattering albedo of biomass burning aerosol over the southeastern Atlantic
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
Use of lidar aerosol extinction and backscatter coefficients to estimate cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations in the southeast Atlantic
Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Jens Redemann, Feng Xu, Sharon P. Burton, Brian Cairns, Ian Chang, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Mary Kacarab, Amie Dobracki, Jenny Wong, Steffen Freitag, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2037–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, 2023
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Measurement report: Aircraft observations of aerosol and microphysical quantities of stratocumulus in autumn over Guangxi Province, China – daylight variation, vertical distribution, and aerosol–cloud interactions
Sihan Liu, Honglei Wang, Delong Zhao, Wei Zhou, Yuanmou Du, Zhengguo Zhang, Peng Cheng, Tianliang Zhao, Yue Ke, Zihao Wu, and Mengyu Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4151–4165, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4151-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4151-2025, 2025
Short summary
Hygroscopic aerosols amplify longwave downward radiation in the Arctic
Denghui Ji, Mathias Palm, Matthias Buschmann, Kerstin Ebell, Marion Maturilli, Xiaoyu Sun, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3889–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Optical and structural properties of atmospheric water-soluble organic carbon in China – insights from multi-site spectroscopic measurements
Haibiao Chen, Caiqing Yan, Liubin Huang, Lin Du, Yang Yue, Xinfeng Wang, Qingcai Chen, Mingjie Xie, Junwen Liu, Fengwen Wang, Shuhong Fang, Qiaoyun Yang, Hongya Niu, Mei Zheng, Yan Wu, and Likun Xue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3647–3667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3647-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3647-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: The variation properties of aerosol hygroscopic growth related to chemical composition during new particle formation days in a coastal city of Southeast China
Lingjun Li, Mengren Li, Xiaolong Fan, Yuping Chen, Ziyi Lin, Anqi Hou, Siqing Zhang, Ronghua Zheng, and Jinsheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3669–3685, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3669-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3669-2025, 2025
Short summary
In situ vertical observations of the layered structure of air pollution in a continental high-latitude urban boundary layer during winter
Roman Pohorsky, Andrea Baccarini, Natalie Brett, Brice Barret, Slimane Bekki, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Elsa Dieudonné, Brice Temime-Roussel, Barbara D'Anna, Meeta Cesler-Maloney, Antonio Donateo, Stefano Decesari, Kathy S. Law, William R. Simpson, Javier Fochesatto, Steve R. Arnold, and Julia Schmale
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3687–3715, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3687-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3687-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Ackerman, A. S., Toon, O. B., Stevens, D. E., Heymsfield, A. J., Ramanathan, V., and Welton, E. J.: Reduction of tropical cloudiness by soot, Science, 288, 1042–1047, 2000. 
Ackerman, A. S., Kirkpatrick, M. P., Stevens, D. E., and Toon, O. B.: The impact of humidity above stratiform clouds on indirect aerosol climate forcing, Nature, 432, 1014–1017, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03174, 2004. 
Adebiyi, A. and Zuidema, P.: The Role of the Southern African Easterly Jet in Modifying the Southeast Atlantic Aerosol and Cloud Environments, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 697, 1574–89, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.2765, 2016. 
Adebiyi, A. A. and Zuidema, P.: Low Cloud Cover Sensitivity to Biomass-Burning Aerosols and Meteorology over the Southeast Atlantic, J. Climate, 31, 4329–4346, 2018. 
Adebiyi, A., Zuidema, P., and Abel, S.: The convolution of dynamics and moisture with the presence of shortwave absorbing aerosols over the southeast Atlantic, J. Climate, 28, 1997–2024, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00352.1, 2015. 
Download

The requested paper has a corresponding corrigendum published. Please read the corrigendum first before downloading the article.

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.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint