Articles | Volume 22, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022
Research article
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19 Sep 2022
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 19 Sep 2022

Cloud adjustments from large-scale smoke–circulation interactions strongly modulate the southeastern Atlantic stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition

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

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Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on acp-2022-411', Haochi Che, 28 Jun 2022
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Michael Diamond, 31 Jul 2022
  • RC2: 'Comment on acp-2022-411', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Jul 2022
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Michael Diamond, 31 Jul 2022
  • RC3: 'Comment on acp-2022-411', Anonymous Referee #3, 12 Jul 2022
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC3', Michael Diamond, 31 Jul 2022

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
AR by Vitaly Muravyev on behalf of the Authors (17 Aug 2022)  Author's response
ED: Publish as is (18 Aug 2022) by J.M. Haywood
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Executive editor
Large quantities of seasonal smoke are produced by agricultural burning in Southern Africa between the months of June and October. Between 2016 and 2018A a series of large field campaigns, ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC, targeted study of the atmospheric impacts of these plumes. This study synthesizes these measurements with numerical simulations to investigate how biomass burning plumes blown westward affect a well-known transition from solid stratocumulus to broken cumulus over the Atlantic Ocean. The dynamics of the cloud transition are complex, and there are many possible ways that aerosols and clouds can interact. This study is particularly notable for considering not just how smoke particles directly modify the microphysical properties of clouds through interactions in the atmospheric boundary layer, but also how they impact clouds indirectly by absorbing solar radiation above the cloud deck. A surprising finding is that microphysical interactions have only a minimal impact on cloud transitions. Instead, the breakup of stratocumulus clouds decks is substantially slowed by the absorption of sunlight by smoke plumes above clouds and its subsequent impact on the vertical temperature and moisture profile of the atmosphere.
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.
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