Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3871-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3871-2021
Research article
 | 
15 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 15 Mar 2021

The importance of Aitken mode aerosol particles for cloud sustenance in the summertime high Arctic – a simulation study supported by observational data

Ines Bulatovic, Adele L. Igel, Caroline Leck, Jost Heintzenberg, Ilona Riipinen, and Annica M. L. Ekman

Related authors

Large-eddy simulation of a two-layer boundary-layer cloud system from the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition
Ines Bulatovic, Julien Savre, Michael Tjernström, Caroline Leck, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7033–7055, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7033-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7033-2023, 2023
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Present-day correlations are insufficient to predict cloud albedo change by anthropogenic aerosols in E3SM v2
Naser Mahfouz, Johannes Mülmenstädt, and Susannah Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7253–7260, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7253-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7253-2024, 2024
Short summary
Simulations of primary and secondary ice production during an Arctic mixed-phase cloud case from the Ny-Ålesund Aerosol Cloud Experiment (NASCENT) campaign
Britta Schäfer, Robert Oscar David, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Julie Thérèse Pasquier, Georgia Sotiropoulou, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7179–7202, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7179-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7179-2024, 2024
Short summary
Microphysical characteristics of precipitation within convective overshooting over East China observed by GPM DPR and ERA5
Nan Sun, Gaopeng Lu, and Yunfei Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7123–7135, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7123-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Effects of radiative cooling on advection fog over the northwest Pacific Ocean: observations and large-eddy simulations
Liu Yang, Saisai Ding, Jing-Wu Liu, and Su-Ping Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6809–6824, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6809-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6809-2024, 2024
Short summary
Evaluating the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process in ICON in large-eddy mode with in situ observations from the CLOUDLAB project
Nadja Omanovic, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Christopher Fuchs, Jan Henneberger, Anna J. Miller, Kevin Ohneiser, Fabiola Ramelli, Patric Seifert, Robert Spirig, Huiying Zhang, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6825–6844, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6825-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6825-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Avramov, A. and Harrington, J. Y.: Influence of parameterized ice habit on simulated mixed phase Arctic clouds, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, D03205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012108, 2010. 
Bigg, E. K. and Leck, C.: Cloud-active particles over the central Arctic ocean, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 32155–32166, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD901152, 2001. 
Bigg, E. K., Leck, C., and Nilsson, E. D.: Sudden changes in arcticatmospheric aerosol concentrations during summer and autumn, Tellus B, 48, 254–271, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v48i2.15890, 1996. 
Birch, C. E., Brooks, I. M., Tjernström, M., Shupe, M. D., Mauritsen, T., Sedlar, J., Lock, A. P., Earnshaw, P., Persson, P. O. G., Milton, S. F., and Leck, C.: Modelling atmospheric structure, cloud and their response to CCN in the central Arctic: ASCOS case studies, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 3419–3435, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-3419-2012, 2012. 
Brooks, I. M., Tjernström, M., Persson, P.O.G., Shupe, M. D., Atkinson, R. A., Canut, G., Birch, C. E., Mauritsen, T., Sedlar, J., and Brooks, B. J.: The turbulent structure of the Arctic summer boundary layer during the Arctic summer cloud-ocean study, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 9685–9704, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027234, 2017. 
Download
Short summary
We use detailed numerical modelling to show that small aerosol particles (diameters ~25–80 nm; so-called Aitken mode particles) significantly influence low-level cloud properties in the clean summertime high Arctic. The small particles can help sustain clouds when the concentration of larger particles is low (<10–20 cm-3). Measurements from four different observational campaigns in the high Arctic support the modelling results as they indicate that Aitken mode aerosols are frequently activated.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint