Aerosol first indirect effect of African smoke at the cloud base of marine cumulus clouds over Ascension Island, southern Atlantic Ocean

de Graaf, Martin; Sarna, Karolina; Brown, Jessica; Tenner, Elma V.; Schenkels, Manon; Donovan, David P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

New observations and related modelling studies of the aerosol–cloud–climate...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5373-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 9

Research article

|

12 May 2023

Research article |

| 12 May 2023

Aerosol first indirect effect of African smoke at the cloud base of marine cumulus clouds over Ascension Island, southern Atlantic Ocean

Martin de Graaf, Karolina Sarna, Jessica Brown, Elma V. Tenner, Manon Schenkels, and David P. Donovan

Data sets

KNMI UV-polarisation lidar Ascension Island initiative (ASCII) campaign data Martin de Graaf and David P. Donovan https://doi.org/10.21944/5qqy-0c37

Short summary

Clouds over the oceans reflect sunlight and cool the earth. Simultaneous measurements were performed of cloud droplet sizes and smoke particles in and near the cloud base over Ascension Island, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean, to determine the sensitivity of cloud droplets to smoke from the African continent. The smoke was found to reduce cloud droplet sizes, which makes the cloud droplets more susceptible to evaporation, reducing cloud lifetime.