Articles | Volume 23, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8259-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8259-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
ACP Letters
| Highlight paper
| 
25 Jul 2023
ACP Letters | Highlight paper |
| 25 Jul 2023
| 25 Jul 2023
Detection of large-scale cloud microphysical changes within a major shipping corridor after implementation of the International Maritime Organization 2020 fuel sulfur regulations
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State
University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Related authors
Alejandro Baró Pérez, Michael S. Diamond, Frida A.-M. Bender, Abhay Devasthale, Matthias Schwarz, Julien Savre, Juha Tonttila, Harri Kokkola, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a numerical model to study interactions between humid light-absorbing aerosol plumes, clouds, and radiation over the southeast Atlantic. We find that the warming produced by the aerosols reduces cloud cover, especially in highly polluted situations. Aerosol impacts on drizzle play a minor role. However, aerosol effects on cloud reflectivity and moisture-induced changes in cloud cover dominate the climatic response and lead to an overall cooling by the biomass burning plumes.
Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Connor J. Flynn, Yohei Shinozuka, Sarah J. Doherty, Michael S. Diamond, Karla M. Longo, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Gregory R. Carmichael, Patricia Castellanos, Arlindo M. da Silva, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Zhixin Xue, Marc Mallet, Ravi Govindaraju, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Yan Feng, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kerry G. Meyer, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sundar A. Christopher, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4283–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12113–12151, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, 2022
Short summary
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.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires, and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
Short summary
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.
Sam Pennypacker, Michael Diamond, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2341–2351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from instruments deployed to a small island in the southeast Atlantic, we study days when the atmospheric concentrations of particles near the surface are exceptionally low. Interestingly, these ultra-clean boundary layers occur in the same months as the smokiest boundary layers associated with biomass burning in Africa. We find evidence that enhancements in drizzle scavenging, on top of a seasonal maximum in cloudiness and precipitation, likely drive these conditions.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Stephen Dunagan, Robert P. Dahlgren, Kerry Meyer, James Podolske, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Brent Holben, Michael Diamond, Robert Wood, Paola Formenti, Stuart Piketh, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Monja Gerber, and Andreas Namwoonde
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The southeast Atlantic during August–October experiences layers of smoke from biomass burning over marine stratocumulus clouds. Here we present the light attenuation of the smoke and its dependence in the spatial, vertical, and spectral domain through direct measurements from an airborne platform during September 2016. From our observations of this climatically important smoke, we found an average aerosol optical depth of 0.32 at 500 nm, slightly lower than comparative satellite measurements.
Michael S. Diamond, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer D. Small Griswold, Ashley Heikkila, Steven G. Howell, Mary E. Kacarab, James R. Podolske, Pablo E. Saide, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14623–14636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke from Africa can mix into clouds over the southeast Atlantic and create new droplets, which brightens the clouds, reflects more sunlight, and thus cools the region. Using aircraft data from a NASA field campaign, we find that cloud properties are correlated with smoke as expected when the smoke is below the clouds but not when smoke is above the clouds because it takes several days for clouds to mix smoke downward. We recommend methods that can track clouds as they move for future studies.
Alejandro Baró Pérez, Michael S. Diamond, Frida A.-M. Bender, Abhay Devasthale, Matthias Schwarz, Julien Savre, Juha Tonttila, Harri Kokkola, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a numerical model to study interactions between humid light-absorbing aerosol plumes, clouds, and radiation over the southeast Atlantic. We find that the warming produced by the aerosols reduces cloud cover, especially in highly polluted situations. Aerosol impacts on drizzle play a minor role. However, aerosol effects on cloud reflectivity and moisture-induced changes in cloud cover dominate the climatic response and lead to an overall cooling by the biomass burning plumes.
Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Connor J. Flynn, Yohei Shinozuka, Sarah J. Doherty, Michael S. Diamond, Karla M. Longo, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Gregory R. Carmichael, Patricia Castellanos, Arlindo M. da Silva, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Zhixin Xue, Marc Mallet, Ravi Govindaraju, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Yan Feng, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kerry G. Meyer, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sundar A. Christopher, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4283–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12113–12151, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12113-2022, 2022
Short summary
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.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires, and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
Kristina Pistone, Paquita Zuidema, Robert Wood, Michael Diamond, Arlindo M. da Silva, Gonzalo Ferrada, Pablo E. Saide, Rei Ueyama, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, James Podolske, David Noone, Ryan Bennett, Eric Stith, Gregory Carmichael, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Samuel LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Yohei Shinozuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9643–9668, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9643-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Using aircraft-based measurements off the Atlantic coast of Africa, we found the springtime smoke plume was strongly correlated with the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere (more smoke indicated more humidity). We see the same general feature in satellite-assimilated and free-running models. Our analysis suggests this relationship is not caused by the burning but originates due to coincident continental meteorology plus fires. This air is transported over the ocean without further mixing.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
Short summary
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.
Sam Pennypacker, Michael Diamond, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2341–2351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2341-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from instruments deployed to a small island in the southeast Atlantic, we study days when the atmospheric concentrations of particles near the surface are exceptionally low. Interestingly, these ultra-clean boundary layers occur in the same months as the smokiest boundary layers associated with biomass burning in Africa. We find evidence that enhancements in drizzle scavenging, on top of a seasonal maximum in cloudiness and precipitation, likely drive these conditions.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Stephen Dunagan, Robert P. Dahlgren, Kerry Meyer, James Podolske, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Brent Holben, Michael Diamond, Robert Wood, Paola Formenti, Stuart Piketh, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Monja Gerber, and Andreas Namwoonde
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The southeast Atlantic during August–October experiences layers of smoke from biomass burning over marine stratocumulus clouds. Here we present the light attenuation of the smoke and its dependence in the spatial, vertical, and spectral domain through direct measurements from an airborne platform during September 2016. From our observations of this climatically important smoke, we found an average aerosol optical depth of 0.32 at 500 nm, slightly lower than comparative satellite measurements.
Michael S. Diamond, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer D. Small Griswold, Ashley Heikkila, Steven G. Howell, Mary E. Kacarab, James R. Podolske, Pablo E. Saide, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14623–14636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke from Africa can mix into clouds over the southeast Atlantic and create new droplets, which brightens the clouds, reflects more sunlight, and thus cools the region. Using aircraft data from a NASA field campaign, we find that cloud properties are correlated with smoke as expected when the smoke is below the clouds but not when smoke is above the clouds because it takes several days for clouds to mix smoke downward. We recommend methods that can track clouds as they move for future studies.
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds and Precipitation | Research Activity: Remote Sensing | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Observing convective activities in complex convective organizations and their contributions to precipitation and anvil cloud amounts
Weak liquid water path response in ship tracks
Air mass history linked to the development of Arctic mixed-phase clouds
Post-Return Stroke VHF Electromagnetic Activity in North-Western Mediterranean Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Flashes
Distinct structure, radiative effects, and precipitation characteristics of deep convection systems in the Tibetan Plateau compared to the tropical Indian Ocean
The correlation between Arctic sea ice, cloud phase and radiation using A-Train satellites
Technical note: Retrieval of the supercooled liquid fraction in mixed-phase clouds from Himawari-8 observations
Characterisation of low-base and mid-base clouds and their thermodynamic phase over the Southern Ocean and Arctic marine regions
A survey of radiative and physical properties of North Atlantic mesoscale cloud morphologies from multiple identification methodologies
Extensive coverage of ultrathin tropical tropopause layer cirrus clouds revealed by balloon-borne lidar observations
The effects of warm-air intrusions in the high Arctic on cirrus clouds
The characteristics of cloud macro-parameters caused by the seeder–feeder process inside clouds measured by millimeter-wave cloud radar in Xi'an, China
Shallow- and deep-convection characteristics in the greater Houston, Texas, area using cell tracking methodology
Observations of the macrophysical properties of cumulus cloud fields over the tropical western Pacific and their connection to meteorological variables
A Lagrangian perspective on the lifecycle and cloud radiative effect of deep convective clouds over Africa
How does the lifetime of detrained cirrus impact the high cloud radiative effect in the tropics?
Daytime variation in the aerosol indirect effect for warm marine boundary layer clouds in the eastern North Atlantic
Technical note: Bimodal parameterizations of in situ ice cloud particle size distributions
Inter-relations of precipitation, aerosols, and clouds over Andalusia, southern Spain, revealed by the Andalusian Global ObseRvatory of the Atmosphere (AGORA)
On the relationship between mesoscale cellular convection and meteorological forcing: comparing the Southern Ocean against the North Pacific
Aerosol-related effects on the occurrence of heterogeneous ice formation over Lauder, New Zealand ∕ Aotearoa
Low-level Arctic clouds: a blind zone in our knowledge of the radiation budget
Climatologically invariant scale invariance seen in distributions of cloud horizontal sizes
Variability and properties of liquid-dominated clouds over the ice-free and sea-ice-covered Arctic Ocean
Asymmetries in cloud microphysical properties ascribed to sea ice leads via water vapour transport in the central Arctic
Quantifying the dependence of drop spectrum width on cloud drop number concentration for cloud remote sensing
The evolution of deep convective systems and their associated cirrus outflows
Wildfire smoke triggers cirrus formation: lidar observations over the eastern Mediterranean
Rapid saturation of cloud water adjustments to shipping emissions
Sensitivities of cloud radiative effects to large-scale meteorology and aerosols from global observations
Distinct secondary ice production processes observed in radar Doppler spectra: insights from a case study
Investigating the development of clouds within marine cold-air outbreaks
Examining cloud vertical structure and radiative effects from satellite retrievals and evaluation of CMIP6 scenarios
Influence of cloud microphysics schemes on weather model predictions of heavy precipitation
Convective organization and 3D structure of tropical cloud systems deduced from synergistic A-Train observations and machine learning
Seasonal controls on isolated convective storm drafts, precipitation intensity, and life cycle as observed during GoAmazon2014/5
Uncertainty in aerosol–cloud radiative forcing is driven by clean conditions
Surface-based observations of cold-air outbreak clouds during the COMBLE field campaign
Boundary layer moisture variability at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Eastern North Atlantic observatory during marine conditions
Profile-based estimated inversion strength
Characteristics of supersaturation in midlatitude cirrus clouds and their adjacent cloud-free air
Establishment of an analytical model for remote sensing of typical stratocumulus cloud profiles under various precipitation and entrainment conditions
Satellite remote sensing of regional and seasonal Arctic cooling showing a multi-decadal trend towards brighter and more liquid clouds
Microphysical processes of super typhoon Lekima (2019) and their impacts on polarimetric radar remote sensing of precipitation
The impacts of dust aerosol and convective available potential energy on precipitation vertical structure in southeastern China as seen from multisource observations
Heavy snowfall event over the Swiss Alps: did wind shear impact secondary ice production?
On the global relationship between polarimetric radio occultation differential phase shift and ice water content
Observations of microphysical properties and radiative effects of a contrail cirrus outbreak over the North Atlantic
Natural marine cloud brightening in the Southern Ocean
Distinct regional meteorological influences on low-cloud albedo susceptibility over global marine stratocumulus regions
Zhenquan Wang and Jian Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13811–13831, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13811-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical convection organizations are normally connected complexes of many convective activities. In this work, a novel variable-brightness-temperature segment tracking algorithm is established to partition the complex convective organizations into structural components of single cold cores for tracking separately. The duration, precipitation and anvil amount of the tracked organization segments have strong loglinear relationships with brightness temperature structures.
Anna Tippett, Edward Gryspeerdt, Peter Manshausen, Philip Stier, and Tristan W. P. Smith
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13269–13283, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13269-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13269-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ship emissions can form artificially brightened clouds, known as ship tracks, and provide us with an opportunity to investigate how aerosols interact with clouds. Previous studies that used ship tracks suggest that clouds can experience large increases in the amount of water (LWP) from aerosols. Here, we show that there is a bias in previous research and that, when we account for this bias, the LWP response to aerosols is much weaker than previously reported.
Rebecca J. Murray-Watson and Edward Gryspeerdt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11115–11132, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11115-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11115-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The formation of mixed-phase clouds during marine cold-air outbreaks is not well understood. Our study, using satellite data and Lagrangian trajectories, reveals that the occurrence of these clouds depends on both time and temperature, influenced partly by the presence of biological ice-nucleating particles. This highlights the importance of comprehending local aerosol dynamics for precise modelling of cloud-phase transitions in the Arctic.
Andrea Kolínská, Ivana Kolmašová, Eric Defer, Ondřej Santolík, and Stéphane Pédeboy
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2489, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2489, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We contribute to the knowledge about the differences in lightning flashes of opposite polarity. We found and explained a distinct behaviour of in-cloud processes happening immediately after return strokes of cloud-to-ground lightning flashes, considering a recharging of in-cloud part of bidirectional leader.
Yuxin Zhao, Jiming Li, Deyu Wen, Yarong Li, Yuan Wang, and Jianping Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9435–9457, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9435-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9435-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study identifies deep convection systems (DCSs), including deep convection cores and anvils, over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and tropical Indian Ocean (TO). The DCSs over the TP are less frequent, showing narrower and thinner cores and anvils compared to those over the TO. TP DCSs show a stronger longwave cloud radiative effect at the surface and in the low-level atmosphere. Distinct aerosol–cloud–precipitation interaction is found in TP DCSs, probably due to the cold cloud bases.
Grégory V. Cesana, Olivia Pierpaoli, Matteo Ottaviani, Linh Vu, Zhonghai Jin, and Israel Silber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7899–7909, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7899-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7899-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Better characterizing the relationship between sea ice and clouds is key to understanding Arctic climate because clouds and sea ice affect surface radiation and modulate Arctic surface warming. Our results indicate that Arctic liquid clouds robustly increase in response to sea ice decrease. This increase has a cooling effect on the surface because more solar radiation is reflected back to space, and it should contribute to dampening future Arctic surface warming.
Ziming Wang, Husi Letu, Huazhe Shang, and Luca Bugliaro
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7559–7574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7559-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7559-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The supercooled liquid fraction (SLF) in mixed-phase clouds is retrieved for the first time using passive geostationary satellite observations based on differences in liquid droplet and ice particle radiative properties. The retrieved results are comparable to global distributions observed by active instruments, and the feasibility of the retrieval method to analyze the observed trends of the SLF has been validated.
Barbara Dietel, Odran Sourdeval, and Corinna Hoose
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7359–7383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7359-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7359-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Uncertainty with respect to cloud phases over the Southern Ocean and Arctic marine regions leads to large uncertainties in the radiation budget of weather and climate models. This study investigates the phases of low-base and mid-base clouds using satellite-based remote sensing data. A comprehensive analysis of the correlation of cloud phase with various parameters, such as temperature, aerosols, sea ice, vertical and horizontal cloud extent, and cloud radiative effect, is presented.
Ryan Eastman, Isabel L. McCoy, Hauke Schulz, and Robert Wood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6613–6634, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud types are determined using machine learning image classifiers applied to satellite imagery for 1 year in the North Atlantic. This survey of these cloud types shows that the climate impact of a cloud scene is, in part, a function of cloud type. Each type displays a different mix of thick and thin cloud cover, with the fraction of thin cloud cover having the strongest impact on the clouds' radiative effect. Future studies must account for differing properties and processes among cloud types.
Thomas Lesigne, François Ravetta, Aurélien Podglajen, Vincent Mariage, and Jacques Pelon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5935–5952, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5935-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5935-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Upper tropical clouds have a strong impact on Earth's climate but are challenging to observe. We report the first long-duration observations of tropical clouds from lidars flying on board stratospheric balloons. Comparisons with spaceborne observations reveal the enhanced sensitivity of balloon-borne lidar to optically thin cirrus. These clouds, which have a significant coverage and lie in the uppermost troposphere, are linked with the dehydration of air masses on their way to the stratosphere.
Georgios Dekoutsidis, Martin Wirth, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5971–5987, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5971-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5971-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
For decades the earth's temperature has been rising. The Arctic regions are warming faster. Cirrus clouds can contribute to this phenomenon. During warm-air intrusions, air masses are transported into the Arctic from the mid-latitudes. The HALO-(AC)3 campaign took place to measure cirrus during intrusion events and under normal conditions. We study the two cloud types based on these measurements and find differences in their geometry, relative humidity distribution and vertical structure.
Huige Di and Yun Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5783–5801, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5783-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5783-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We observed the seeder–feeder process among double-layer clouds using a cloud radar and microwave radiometer. By defining the parameters of the seeding depth and seeding time of the upper cloud affecting the lower cloud, we find that the cloud particle terminal velocity is significantly enhanced during the seeder–feeder period, and the lower the height and thinner the thickness of the height difference between double-layer clouds, the lower the height and thicker the thickness of seeding depth.
Kristofer S. Tuftedal, Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras, Mariko Oue, and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5637–5657, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5637-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5637-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyzed coastal convective cells from June through September 2018–2021. The cells were classified and their lifecycles were analyzed to better understand their characteristics. Features such as convective-core growth, for example, are shown. The study found differences in the initiation location of shallow convection and in the aerosol loading in deep convective environments. This work provides a foundation for future analyses of convection or other tracked events elsewhere.
Michie Vianca De Vera, Larry Di Girolamo, Guangyu Zhao, Robert M. Rauber, Stephen W. Nesbitt, and Greg M. McFarquhar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5603–5623, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5603-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical oceanic low clouds remain a dominant source of uncertainty in cloud feedback in climate models due to their macrophysical properties (fraction, size, height, shape, distribution) being misrepresented. High-resolution satellite imagery over the Philippine oceans is used here to characterize cumulus macrophysical properties and their relationship to meteorological variables. Such information can act as a benchmark for cloud models and can improve low-cloud generation in climate models.
William K. Jones, Martin Stengel, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5165–5180, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5165-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Storm clouds cover large areas of the tropics. These clouds both reflect incoming sunlight and trap heat from the atmosphere below, regulating the temperature of the tropics. Over land, storm clouds occur in the late afternoon and evening and so exist both during the daytime and at night. Changes in this timing could upset the balance of the respective cooling and heating effects of these clouds. We find that isolated storms have a larger effect on this balance than their small size suggests.
George Horner and Edward Gryspeerdt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1090, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1090, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work tracks the lifecycle of thin cirrus clouds that flow out of tropical convective storms. These cirrus clouds are found to have a warming effect on the atmosphere over their whole lifetime. Thin cirrus that originate from land origin convection warm more than those of ocean origin. Moreover, if the lifetime of these cirrus clouds increase, the warming they exert over their whole lifetime also increases. These results help us understand how these clouds might change in a future climate.
Shaoyue Qiu, Xue Zheng, David Painemal, Christopher R. Terai, and Xiaoli Zhou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2913–2935, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The aerosol indirect effect (AIE) depends on cloud states, which exhibit significant diurnal variations in the northeastern Atlantic. Yet the AIE diurnal cycle remains poorly understood. Using satellite retrievals, we find a pronounced “U-shaped” diurnal variation in the AIE, which is contributed to by the transition of cloud states combined with the lagged cloud responses. This suggests that polar-orbiting satellites with overpass times at noon underestimate daytime mean values of the AIE.
Irene Bartolomé García, Odran Sourdeval, Reinhold Spang, and Martina Krämer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1699–1716, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1699-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1699-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
How many ice crystals of each size are in a cloud is a key parameter for the retrieval of cloud properties. The distribution of ice crystals is obtained from in situ measurements and used to create parameterizations that can be used when analyzing the remote-sensing data. Current parameterizations are based on data sets that do not include reliable measurements of small crystals, but in our study we use a data set that includes very small ice crystals to improve these parameterizations.
Wenyue Wang, Klemens Hocke, Leonardo Nania, Alberto Cazorla, Gloria Titos, Renaud Matthey, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Agustín Millares, and Francisco Navas-Guzmán
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1571–1585, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1571-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1571-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The south-central interior of Andalusia experiences complex precipitation patterns as a result of the semi-arid Mediterranean climate and the influence of Saharan dust. This study monitored the inter-relations between aerosols, clouds, meteorological variables, and precipitation systems using ground-based remote sensing and in situ instruments.
Francisco Lang, Steven T. Siems, Yi Huang, Tahereh Alinejadtabrizi, and Luis Ackermann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1451–1466, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine low-level clouds play a crucial role in the Earth's energy balance, trapping heat from the surface and reflecting sunlight back into space. These clouds are distinguishable by their large-scale spatial structures, primarily characterized as hexagonal patterns with either filled (closed) or empty (open) cells. Utilizing satellite observations, these two cloud type patterns have been categorized over the Southern Ocean and North Pacific Ocean through a pattern recognition program.
Julian Hofer, Patric Seifert, J. Ben Liley, Martin Radenz, Osamu Uchino, Isamu Morino, Tetsu Sakai, Tomohiro Nagai, and Albert Ansmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1265–1280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1265-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1265-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An 11-year dataset of polarization lidar observations from Lauder, New Zealand / Aotearoa, was used to distinguish the thermodynamic phase of natural clouds. The cloud dataset was separated to assess the impact of air mass origin on the frequency of heterogeneous ice formation. Ice formation efficiency in clouds above Lauder was found to be lower than in the polluted Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes but higher than in very clean and pristine environments, such as Punta Arenas in southern Chile.
Hannes Jascha Griesche, Carola Barrientos-Velasco, Hartwig Deneke, Anja Hünerbein, Patric Seifert, and Andreas Macke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 597–612, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-597-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-597-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is strongly affected by climate change and the role of clouds therein is not yet completely understood. Measurements from the Arctic expedition PS106 were used to simulate radiative fluxes with and without clouds at very low altitudes (below 165 m), and their radiative effect was calculated to be 54 Wm-2. The low heights of these clouds make them hard to observe. This study shows the importance of accurate measurements and simulations of clouds and gives suggestions for improvements.
Thomas D. DeWitt, Timothy J. Garrett, Karlie N. Rees, Corey Bois, Steven K. Krueger, and Nicolas Ferlay
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 109–122, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-109-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-109-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Viewed from space, a defining feature of Earth's atmosphere is the wide spectrum of cloud sizes. A recent study predicted the distribution of cloud sizes, and this paper compares the prediction to observations. Although there is nuance in viewing perspective, we find robust agreement with theory across different climatological conditions, including land–ocean contrasts, time of year, or latitude, suggesting a minor role for Coriolis forces, aerosol loading, or surface temperature.
Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Elena Ruiz-Donoso, Nils Risse, Imke Schirmacher, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, Kevin Wolf, Mario Mech, Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15289–15304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15289-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15289-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we explain how we use aircraft measurements from two Arctic research campaigns to identify cloud properties (like droplet size) over sea-ice and ice-free ocean. To make sure that our measurements make sense, we compare them with other observations. Our results show, e.g., larger cloud droplets in early summer than in spring. Moreover, the cloud droplets are also larger over ice-free ocean than compared to sea ice. In the future, our data can be used to improve climate models.
Pablo Saavedra Garfias, Heike Kalesse-Los, Luisa von Albedyll, Hannes Griesche, and Gunnar Spreen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14521–14546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14521-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14521-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
An important Arctic climate process is the release of heat fluxes from sea ice openings to the atmosphere that influence the clouds. The characterization of this process is the objective of this study. Using synergistic observations from the MOSAiC expedition, we found that single-layer cloud properties show significant differences when clouds are coupled or decoupled to the water vapour transport which is used as physical link between the upwind sea ice openings and the cloud under observation.
Matthew D. Lebsock and Mikael Witte
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14293–14305, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14293-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14293-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper evaluates measurements of cloud drop size distributions made from airplanes. We find that as the number of cloud drops increases the distribution of the cloud drop sizes narrows. The data are used to develop a simple equation that relates the drop number to the width of the drop sizes. We then use this equation to demonstrate that existing approaches to observe the drop number from satellites contain errors that can be corrected by including the new relationship.
George Horner and Edward Gryspeerdt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14239–14253, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14239-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14239-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical deep convective clouds, and the thin cirrus (ice) clouds that flow out from them, are important for modulating the energy budget of the tropical atmosphere. This work uses a new method to track the evolution of the properties of these clouds across their entire lifetimes. We find these clouds cool the atmosphere in the first 6 h before switching to a warming regime after the deep convective core has dissipated, which is sustained beyond 120 h from the initial convective event.
Rodanthi-Elisavet Mamouri, Albert Ansmann, Kevin Ohneiser, Daniel A. Knopf, Argyro Nisantzi, Johannes Bühl, Ronny Engelmann, Annett Skupin, Patric Seifert, Holger Baars, Dragos Ene, Ulla Wandinger, and Diofantos Hadjimitsis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14097–14114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14097-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
For the first time, rather clear evidence is found that wildfire smoke particles can trigger strong cirrus formation. This finding is of importance because intensive and large wildfires may occur increasingly often in the future as climate change proceeds. Based on lidar observations in Cyprus in autumn 2020, we provide detailed insight into the cirrus formation at the tropopause in the presence of aged wildfire smoke (here, 8–9 day old Californian wildfire smoke).
Peter Manshausen, Duncan Watson-Parris, Matthew W. Christensen, Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 12545–12555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12545-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12545-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol from burning fuel changes cloud properties, e.g., the number of droplets and the content of water. Here, we study how clouds respond to different amounts of shipping aerosol. Droplet numbers increase linearly with increasing aerosol over a broad range until they stop increasing, while the amount of liquid water always increases, independently of emission amount. These changes in cloud properties can make them reflect more or less sunlight, which is important for the earth's climate.
Hendrik Andersen, Jan Cermak, Alyson Douglas, Timothy A. Myers, Peer Nowack, Philip Stier, Casey J. Wall, and Sarah Wilson Kemsley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10775–10794, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10775-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10775-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses an observation-based cloud-controlling factor framework to study near-global sensitivities of cloud radiative effects to a large number of meteorological and aerosol controls. We present near-global sensitivity patterns to selected thermodynamic, dynamic, and aerosol factors and discuss the physical mechanisms underlying the derived sensitivities. Our study hopes to guide future analyses aimed at constraining cloud feedbacks and aerosol–cloud interactions.
Anne-Claire Billault-Roux, Paraskevi Georgakaki, Josué Gehring, Louis Jaffeux, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Pierre Coutris, Athanasios Nenes, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10207–10234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10207-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10207-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Secondary ice production plays a key role in clouds and precipitation. In this study, we analyze radar measurements from a snowfall event in the Jura Mountains. Complex signatures are observed, which reveal that ice crystals were formed through various processes. An analysis of multi-sensor data suggests that distinct ice multiplication processes were taking place. Both the methods used and the insights gained through this case study contribute to a better understanding of snowfall microphysics.
Rebecca J. Murray-Watson, Edward Gryspeerdt, and Tom Goren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9365–9383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9365-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9365-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds formed in Arctic marine cold air outbreaks undergo a distinct evolution, but the factors controlling their transition from high-coverage to broken cloud fields are poorly understood. We use satellite and reanalysis data to study how these clouds develop in time and the different influences on their evolution. The aerosol concentration is correlated with cloud break-up; more aerosol is linked to prolonged coverage and a stronger cooling effect, with implications for a more polluted Arctic.
Hao Luo, Johannes Quaas, and Yong Han
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8169–8186, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8169-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8169-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds exhibit a wide range of vertical structures with varying microphysical and radiative properties. We show a global survey of spatial distribution, vertical extent and radiative effect of various classified cloud vertical structures using joint satellite observations from the new CCCM datasets during 2007–2010. Moreover, the long-term trends in CVSs are investigated based on different CMIP6 future scenarios to capture the cloud variations with different, increasing anthropogenic forcings.
Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, and Christoph Knote
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6255–6269, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6255-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6255-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Polarimetric radar observations of 30 d of convective precipitation events are used to statistically analyze 5 state-of-the-art microphysics schemes of varying complexity. The frequency and area of simulated heavy-precipitation events are in some cases significantly different from those observed, depending on the microphysics scheme. Analysis of simulated particle size distributions and reflectivities shows that some schemes have problems reproducing the correct particle size distributions.
Claudia J. Stubenrauch, Giulio Mandorli, and Elisabeth Lemaitre
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5867–5884, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5867-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5867-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Organized convection leads to large convective cloud systems and intense rain and may change with a warming climate. Their complete 3D description, attained by machine learning techniques in combination with various satellite observations, together with a cloud system concept, link convection to anvil properties, while convective organization can be identified by the horizontal structure of intense rain.
Scott E. Giangrande, Thiago S. Biscaro, and John M. Peters
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5297–5316, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5297-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5297-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our study tracks thunderstorms observed during the wet and dry seasons of the Amazon Basin using weather radar. We couple this precipitation tracking with opportunistic overpasses of a wind profiler and other ground observations to add unique insights into the upwards and downwards air motions within these clouds at various stages in the storm life cycle. The results of a simple updraft model are provided to give physical explanations for observed seasonal differences.
Edward Gryspeerdt, Adam C. Povey, Roy G. Grainger, Otto Hasekamp, N. Christina Hsu, Jane P. Mulcahy, Andrew M. Sayer, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4115–4122, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4115-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4115-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of aerosols on clouds is one of the largest uncertainties in the human forcing of the climate. Aerosol can increase the concentrations of droplets in clouds, but observational and model studies produce widely varying estimates of this effect. We show that these estimates can be reconciled if only polluted clouds are studied, but this is insufficient to constrain the climate impact of aerosol. The uncertainty in aerosol impact on clouds is currently driven by cases with little aerosol.
Zackary Mages, Pavlos Kollias, Zeen Zhu, and Edward P. Luke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3561–3574, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3561-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3561-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cold-air outbreaks (when cold air is advected over warm water and creates low-level convection) are a dominant cloud regime in the Arctic, and we capitalized on ground-based observations, which did not previously exist, from the COMBLE field campaign to study them. We characterized the extent and strength of the convection and turbulence and found evidence of secondary ice production. This information is useful for model intercomparison studies that will represent cold-air outbreak processes.
Maria P. Cadeddu, Virendra P. Ghate, David D. Turner, and Thomas E. Surleta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3453–3470, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze the variability in marine boundary layer moisture at the Eastern North Atlantic site on a monthly and daily temporal scale and examine its fundamental role in the control of boundary layer cloudiness and precipitation. The study also highlights the complex interaction between large-scale and local processes controlling the boundary layer moisture and the importance of the mesoscale spatial distribution of vapor to support convection and precipitation.
Zhenquan Wang, Jian Yuan, Robert Wood, Yifan Chen, and Tiancheng Tong
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3247–3266, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3247-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3247-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study develops a novel profile-based algorithm based on the ERA5 to estimate the inversion strength in the planetary boundary layer better than the previous inversion index, which is a key low-cloud-controlling factor. This improved measure is more effective at representing the meteorological influence on low-cloud variations. It can better constrain the meteorological influence on low clouds to better isolate cloud responses to aerosols or to estimate low cloud feedbacks in climate models.
Georgios Dekoutsidis, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Martina Krämer, and Christian Rolf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3103–3117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cirrus clouds affect Earth's atmosphere, deeming our study important. Here we use water vapor measurements by lidar and study the relative humidity (RHi) within and around midlatitude cirrus clouds. We find high supersaturations in the cloud-free air and within the clouds, especially near the cloud top. We study two cloud types with different formation processes. Finally, we conclude that the shape of the distribution of RHi can be used as an indicator of different cloud evolutionary stages.
Huazhe Shang, Souichiro Hioki, Guillaume Penide, Céline Cornet, Husi Letu, and Jérôme Riedi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2729–2746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2729-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2729-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We find that cloud profiles can be divided into four prominent patterns, and the frequency of these four patterns is related to intensities of cloud-top entrainment and precipitation. Based on these analyses, we further propose a cloud profile parameterization scheme allowing us to represent these patterns. Our results shed light on how to facilitate the representation of cloud profiles and how to link them to cloud entrainment or precipitating status in future remote-sensing applications.
Luca Lelli, Marco Vountas, Narges Khosravi, and John Philipp Burrows
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2579–2611, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2579-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2579-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Arctic amplification describes the recent period in which temperatures have been rising twice as fast as or more than the global average and sea ice and the Greenland ice shelf are approaching a tipping point. Hence, the Arctic ability to reflect solar energy decreases and absorption by the surface increases. Using 2 decades of complementary satellite data, we discover that clouds unexpectedly increase the pan-Arctic reflectance by increasing their liquid water content, thus cooling the Arctic.
Yabin Gou, Haonan Chen, Hong Zhu, and Lulin Xue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2439–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2439-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2439-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This article investigates the complex precipitation microphysics associated with super typhoon Lekima using a host of in situ and remote sensing observations, including rain gauge and disdrometer data, as well as polarimetric radar observations. The impacts of precipitation microphysics on multi-source data consistency and radar precipitation estimation are quantified. It is concluded that the dynamical precipitation microphysical processes must be considered in radar precipitation estimation.
Hongxia Zhu, Rui Li, Shuping Yang, Chun Zhao, Zhe Jiang, and Chen Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2421–2437, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2421-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2421-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The impacts of atmospheric dust aerosols and cloud dynamic conditions on precipitation vertical development in southeastern China were studied using multiple satellite observations. It was found that the precipitating drops under dusty conditions grow faster in the middle layer but slower in the upper and lower layers compared with their pristine counterparts. Quantitative estimation of the sensitivity of the precipitation top temperature to the dust aerosol optical depth is also provided.
Zane Dedekind, Jacopo Grazioli, Philip H. Austin, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2345–2364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2345-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2345-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Simulations allowing ice particles to collide with one another producing more ice particles represented surface observations of ice particles accurately. An increase in ice particles formed through collisions was related to sharp changes in the wind direction and speed with height. Changes in wind speed and direction can therefore cause more enhanced collisions between ice particles and alter how fast and how much precipitation forms. Simulations were conducted with the atmospheric model COSMO.
Ramon Padullés, Estel Cardellach, and F. Joseph Turk
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2199–2214, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2199-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2199-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The results of comparing the polarimetric radio occultation observables and the ice water content retrieved from the CloudSat radar in a global and statistical way show a strong correlation between the geographical patterns of both quantities for a wide range of heights. This implies that horizontally oriented hydrometeors are systematically present through the whole globe and through all vertical levels, which could provide insights on the physical processes leading to precipitation.
Ziming Wang, Luca Bugliaro, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Romy Heller, Ulrike Burkhardt, Helmut Ziereis, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Martin Wirth, Silke Groß, Simon Kirschler, Stefan Kaufmann, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1941–1961, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1941-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1941-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Differences in the microphysical properties of contrail cirrus and natural cirrus in a contrail outbreak situation during the ML-CIRRUS campaign over the North Atlantic flight corridor can be observed from in situ measurements. The cirrus radiative effect in the area of the outbreak, derived from satellite observation-based radiative transfer modeling, is warming in the early morning and cooling during the day.
Gerald G. Mace, Sally Benson, Ruhi Humphries, Peter M. Gombert, and Elizabeth Sterner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1677–1685, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1677-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1677-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The number of cloud droplets per unit volume is a significantly important property of clouds that controls their reflective properties. Computer models of the Earth's atmosphere and climate have low skill at predicting the reflective properties of Southern Ocean clouds. Here we investigate the properties of those clouds using satellite data and find that the cloud droplet number and cloud albedo in the Southern Ocean are related to the oceanic phytoplankton abundance near Antarctica.
Jianhao Zhang and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1073–1090, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1073-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1073-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using observations from space, we show maps of potential brightness changes in marine warm clouds in response to increases in cloud droplet concentrations. The environmental and aerosol conditions in which these clouds reside covary differently in each ocean basin, leading to distinct evolutions of cloud brightness changes. This work stresses the central importance of the covariability between meteorology and aerosol for scaling up the radiative response of cloud brightness changes.
Cited articles
Albrecht, B. A.: Aerosols, Cloud Microphysics, and Fractional Cloudiness,
Science, 245, 1227–1230, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.245.4923.1227, 1989.
Ault, A. P., Gaston, C. J., Wang, Y., Dominguez, G., Thiemens, M. H., and
Prather, K. A.: Characterization of the Single Particle Mixing State of
Individual Ship Plume Events Measured at the Port of Los Angeles,
Environ. Sci. Technol., 44, 1954–1961, https://doi.org/10.1021/es902985h,
2010.
Benjamini, Y. and Hochberg, Y.: Controlling the False Discovery Rate: A
Practical and Powerful Approach to Multiple Testing, J. R. Stat. Soc. B Met., 57, 289–300, 1995.
Capaldo, K., Corbett, J. J., Kasibhatla, P., Fischbeck, P., and Pandis, S.
N.: Effects of ship emissions on sulphur cycling and radiative climate
forcing over the ocean, Nature, 400, 743–746, https://doi.org/10.1038/23438, 1999.
CERES Science Team: CERES_SSF_Terra-Aqua_Edition4A Data Quality Summary, NASA Langley
Research Center, Langley, VA, https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/documents/DQ_summaries/CER_SSF_Terra-Aqua_Edition4A.pdf (last access: 19 July 2023), 2016.
CERES Science Team: CERES_SSF1deg-Hour/Day/Month_Ed4A Data Quality Summary Version 1,
NASA Langley Research Center, Langley, VA, https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/documents/DQ_summaries/CERES_SSF1deg_Ed4A_DQS.pdf (last access: 19 July 2023), 2021.
CERES Science Team: CERES Time-Interpolated TOA Fluxes, Clouds and Aerosols Monthly Terra Edition4A, Hampton, VA, USA, NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center
(ASDC) [data set],
https://doi.org/10.5067/Terra/CERES/SSF1DegMonth_L3.004A, 2023.
Chen, Y.-C., Christensen, M. W., Xue, L., Sorooshian, A., Stephens, G. L., Rasmussen, R. M., and Seinfeld, J. H.: Occurrence of lower cloud albedo in ship tracks, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 8223–8235, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-8223-2012, 2012.
Chilès, J.-P. and Desassis, N.: Fifty Years of Kriging, in: Handbook of
Mathematical Geosciences, 589–612, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78999-6_29, 2018.
Christensen, M. W., Gettelman, A., Cermak, J., Dagan, G., Diamond, M., Douglas, A., Feingold, G., Glassmeier, F., Goren, T., Grosvenor, D. P., Gryspeerdt, E., Kahn, R., Li, Z., Ma, P.-L., Malavelle, F., McCoy, I. L., McCoy, D. T., McFarquhar, G., Mülmenstädt, J., Pal, S., Possner, A., Povey, A., Quaas, J., Rosenfeld, D., Schmidt, A., Schrödner, R., Sorooshian, A., Stier, P., Toll, V., Watson-Parris, D., Wood, R., Yang, M., and Yuan, T.: Opportunistic experiments to constrain aerosol effective radiative forcing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022.
Coakley, J. A. and Walsh, C. D.: Limits to the Aerosol Indirect Radiative
Effect Derived from Observations of Ship Tracks, J. Atmos.
Sci., 59, 668-680, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(2002)059<0668:Lttair>2.0.Co;2, 2002.
Conover, J. H.: Anomalous Cloud Lines, J. Atmos. Sci.,
23, 778–785, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1966)023<0778:Acl>2.0.Co;2, 1966.
Crippa, M., Guizzardi, D., Muntean, M., Schaaf, E., Dentener, F., van Aardenne, J. A., Monni, S., Doering, U., Olivier, J. G. J., Pagliari, V., and Janssens-Maenhout, G.: Gridded emissions of air pollutants for the period 1970–2012 within EDGAR v4.3.2, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1987–2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1987-2018, 2018.
Diamond, M. S.: michael-s-diamond/IMO2020: Version of record (Version IMO2020), Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8165409, 2023a.
Diamond, M. S.: Data for “Detection of large-scale cloud microphysical
changes within a major shipping corridor after implementation of the IMO
2020 fuel sulfur regulations” (Version 20230426), Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7864530, 2023b.
Diamond, M. S., Director, H. M., Eastman, R., Possner, A., and Wood, R.:
Substantial Cloud Brightening from Shipping in Subtropical Low Clouds, AGU
Advances, 1, e2019AV000111, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019av000111, 2020.
Doelling, D. R., Loeb, N. G., Keyes, D. F., Nordeen, M. L., Morstad, D.,
Nguyen, C., Wielicki, B. A., Young, D. F., and Sun, M.: Geostationary
Enhanced Temporal Interpolation for CERES Flux Products, J.
Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 30, 1072-1090, https://doi.org/10.1175/jtech-d-12-00136.1, 2013.
European Commission Joint Research Centre: Emissions Database for Global
Atmospheric Research, Joint Research Centre Data Catalogue [data set], https://doi.org/10.2904/JRC_DATASET_EDGAR, 2018.
Forster, P., Storelvmo, T., Armour, K., Collins, W., Dufresne, J.-L., Frame, D.,
Lunt, D. J., Mauritsen, T., Palmer, M. D., Watanabe, M., Wild, M., and Zhang, H.:
The Earth's Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity, in:
Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working
Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and
New York, NY, USA, 923–1054, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157896.009, 2021.
Goren, T. and Rosenfeld, D.: Satellite observations of ship emission
induced transitions from broken to closed cell marine stratocumulus over
large areas, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 117, D17206, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012jd017981, 2012.
Grosvenor, D. P., Sourdeval, O., Zuidema, P., Ackerman, A., Alexandrov, M.
D., Bennartz, R., Boers, R., Cairns, B., Chiu, J. C., Christensen, M.,
Deneke, H., Diamond, M., Feingold, G., Fridlind, A., Hünerbein, A.,
Knist, C., Kollias, P., Marshak, A., McCoy, D., Merk, D., Painemal, D.,
Rausch, J., Rosenfeld, D., Russchenberg, H., Seifert, P., Sinclair, K.,
Stier, P., van Diedenhoven, B., Wendisch, M., Werner, F., Wood, R., Zhang,
Z., and Quaas, J.: Remote Sensing of Droplet Number Concentration in Warm
Clouds: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge and Perspectives, Rev.
Geophys., 56, 409–453, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017rg000593, 2018.
Gryspeerdt, E., Smith, T. W. P., O'Keeffe, E., Christensen, M. W., and
Goldsworth, F. W.: The Impact of Ship Emission Controls Recorded by Cloud
Properties, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 12547–12555, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl084700, 2019.
Harris, C. R., Millman, K. J., van der Walt, S. J., Gommers, R., Virtanen,
P., Cournapeau, D., Wieser, E., Taylor, J., Berg, S., Smith, N. J., Kern,
R., Picus, M., Hoyer, S., van Kerkwijk, M. H., Brett, M., Haldane, A., Del
Rio, J. F., Wiebe, M., Peterson, P., Gerard-Marchant, P., Sheppard, K.,
Reddy, T., Weckesser, W., Abbasi, H., Gohlke, C., and Oliphant, T. E.: Array
programming with NumPy, Nature, 585, 357–362, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2,
2020.
Hoyer, S. and Hamman, J. J.: xarray: N-D labeled Arrays and Datasets in
Python, Journal of Open Research Software, 5, 10, https://doi.org/10.5334/jors.148, 2017.
Hunter, J. D.: Matplotlib: A 2D Graphics Environment, Comput. Sci.
Eng., 9, 90–95, https://doi.org/10.1109/MCSE.2007.55, 2007.
IMO: RESOLUTION MEPC.305(73) (adopted on 26 October 2018)
AMENDMENTS TO THE ANNEX OF THE PROTOCOL OF 1997 TO AMEND THE
INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PREVENTION OF POLLUTION FROM
SHIPS, 1973, AS MODIFIED BY THE PROTOCOL OF 1978 RELATING THERETO,
London, UK, https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/KnowledgeCentre/IndexofIMOResolutions/MEPCDocuments/MEPC.305(73).pdf (last access: 19 July 2023), 2018.
IMO: RESOLUTION MEPC.320(74)
2019 GUIDELINES FOR CONSISTENT IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 0.50 % SULPHUR LIMIT UNDER MARPOL ANNEX V, London, UK, https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Environment/Documents/Resolution MEPC.320(74).pdf, (last access: 19 July 2023), 2019.
IMO: MEPC 75/5/9: Sulphur monitoring for 2019, London, UK, https://docs.imo.org/Category.aspx?cid=47&session=75 (last access: 1 May 2023), 2020.
IMO: MEPC 76/5/2: Relevant information reported to IMO related to the entry
into force of the global 0.50 % sulphur limit (IMO2020) and outcomes of
the sulphur monitoring programme for 2020, London, UK, https://docs.imo.org/Category.aspx?cid=47&session=76 (last access: 1 May 2023), 2021.
IMO: MEPC 78/INF.4: Relevant information reported to IMO related to the
implementation of the global 0.50 % sulphur limit (IMO2020) and outcomes
of the sulphur monitoring for 2021, London, UK, https://docs.imo.org/Category.aspx?cid=47&session=78 (last access: 1 May 2023), 2022.
IMO: MEPC 80/INF.4: Relevant information reported to IMO related to the
entry into force of the global 0.50 % sulphur limit (IMO 2020) and
outcomes of the sulphur monitoring for 2022, London, UK, https://docs.imo.org/Shared/Download.aspx?did=142046 (last access: 1 May 2023), 2023.
Lack, D. A., Cappa, C. D., Langridge, J., Bahreini, R., Buffaloe, G., Brock,
C., Cerully, K., Coffman, D., Hayden, K., Holloway, J., Lerner, B., Massoli,
P., Li, S. M., McLaren, R., Middlebrook, A. M., Moore, R., Nenes, A.,
Nuaaman, I., Onasch, T. B., Peischl, J., Perring, A., Quinn, P. K., Ryerson,
T., Schwartz, J. P., Spackman, R., Wofsy, S. C., Worsnop, D., Xiang, B., and
Williams, E.: Impact of fuel quality regulation and speed reductions on
shipping emissions: implications for climate and air quality, Environ. Sci.
Technol., 45, 9052–9060, https://doi.org/10.1021/es2013424, 2011.
Lauer, A., Eyring, V., Hendricks, J., Jöckel, P., and Lohmann, U.: Global model simulations of the impact of ocean-going ships on aerosols, clouds, and the radiation budget, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 5061–5079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-5061-2007, 2007.
Loeb, N. G., Su, W., Doelling, D. R., Wong, T., Minnis, P., Thomas, S., and
Miller, W. F.: 5.03 – Earth's Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget, Comprehensive
Remote Sensing, 5, 67–84, https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-409548-9.10367-7, 2018.
Manshausen, P., Watson-Parris, D., Christensen, M. W., Jalkanen, J.-P., and
Stier, P.: Invisible ship tracks show large cloud sensitivity to aerosol,
Nature, 610, 101–106, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05122-0, 2022.
March, D., Metcalfe, K., Tintore, J., and Godley, B. J.: Tracking the global
reduction of marine traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic, Nat. Commun., 12,
2415, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22423-6, 2021.
Met Office: Cartopy: a cartographic python library with a matplotlib
interface, Met Office, Exeter, Devon, https://scitools.org.uk/cartopy (last access: 19 July 2023), 2010–2015.
Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Young, D. F., Heck, P. W., Garber, D. P., Chen,
Y., Spangenberg, D. A., Arduini, R. F., Trepte, Q. Z., Smith, W. L., Ayers,
J. K., Gibson, S. C., Miller, W. F., Hong, G., Chakrapani, V., Takano, Y.,
Liou, K.-N., Xie, Y., and Yang, P.: CERES Edition-2 Cloud Property
Retrievals Using TRMM VIRS and Terra and Aqua MODIS Data – Part I:
Algorithms, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 49,
4374–4400, https://doi.org/10.1109/tgrs.2011.2144601, 2011.
Montzka, S. A., Dutton, G. S., Yu, P., Ray, E., Portmann, R. W., Daniel, J.
S., Kuijpers, L., Hall, B. D., Mondeel, D., Siso, C., Nance, J. D., Rigby,
M., Manning, A. J., Hu, L., Moore, F., Miller, B. R., and Elkins, J. W.: An
unexpected and persistent increase in global emissions of ozone-depleting
CFC-11, Nature, 557, 413–417, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0106-2, 2018.
NASA Langley Research Center, CERES Data Products, https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/data/ (last access: 14 April 2023), 2023.
Park, S., Western, L. M., Saito, T., Redington, A. L., Henne, S., Fang, X.,
Prinn, R. G., Manning, A. J., Montzka, S. A., Fraser, P. J., Ganesan, A. L.,
Harth, C. M., Kim, J., Krummel, P. B., Liang, Q., Muhle, J., O'Doherty, S.,
Park, H., Park, M. K., Reimann, S., Salameh, P. K., Weiss, R. F., and Rigby,
M.: A decline in emissions of CFC-11 and related chemicals from eastern
China, Nature, 590, 433–437, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03277-w, 2021.
Partanen, A. I., Laakso, A., Schmidt, A., Kokkola, H., Kuokkanen, T., Pietikäinen, J.-P., Kerminen, V.-M., Lehtinen, K. E. J., Laakso, L., and Korhonen, H.: Climate and air quality trade-offs in altering ship fuel sulfur content, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12059–12071, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12059-2013, 2013.
Peters, K., Quaas, J., and Graßl, H.: A search for large-scale effects
of ship emissions on clouds and radiation in satellite data, J.
Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 116, D24205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011jd016531, 2011.
Peters, K., Stier, P., Quaas, J., and Graßl, H.: Corrigendum to ”Aerosol indirect effects from shipping emissions: sensitivity studies with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM” published in Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 5985–6007, 2012, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6429–6430, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6429-2013, 2013.
Platnick, S., Meyer, K. G., King, M. D., Wind, G., Amarasinghe, N.,
Marchant, B., Arnold, G. T., Zhang, Z., Hubanks, P. A., Holz, R. E., Yang,
P., Ridgway, W. L., and Riedi, J.: The MODIS cloud optical and microphysical
products: Collection 6 updates and examples from Terra and Aqua, IEEE
T. Geosci. Remote, 55, 502–525, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2016.2610522, 2017.
R Core Team: R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R
Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, https://www.r-project.org/ (last access: 19 July 2023), 2014.
Ribeiro, P. A. and Diggle, P. J.: geoR: Analysis of Geostatistical Data. R package version 1.7-5.2.1, https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=geoR (last access: 19 July 2023), 2018.
Rigby, M., Park, S., Saito, T., Western, L. M., Redington, A. L., Fang, X.,
Henne, S., Manning, A. J., Prinn, R. G., Dutton, G. S., Fraser, P. J.,
Ganesan, A. L., Hall, B. D., Harth, C. M., Kim, J., Kim, K. R., Krummel, P.
B., Lee, T., Li, S., Liang, Q., Lunt, M. F., Montzka, S. A., Muhle, J.,
O'Doherty, S., Park, M. K., Reimann, S., Salameh, P. K., Simmonds, P.,
Tunnicliffe, R. L., Weiss, R. F., Yokouchi, Y., and Young, D.: Increase in
CFC-11 emissions from eastern China based on atmospheric observations,
Nature, 569, 546–550, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1193-4, 2019.
Righi, M., Klinger, C., Eyring, V., Hendricks, J., Lauer, A., and Petzold,
A.: Climate impact of biofuels in shipping: global model studies of the
aerosol indirect effect, Environ. Sci. Technol., 45,
3519–3525, https://doi.org/10.1021/es1036157, 2011.
Sandu, I., Brenguier, J.-L., Geoffroy, O., Thouron, O., and Masson, V.:
Aerosol Impacts on the Diurnal Cycle of Marine Stratocumulus, J.
Atmos. Sci., 65, 2705–2718, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008jas2451.1, 2008.
Schreier, M., Mannstein, H., Eyring, V., and Bovensmann, H.: Global ship
track distribution and radiative forcing from 1 year of AATSR data,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L17814, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007gl030664, 2007.
Seppälä, S. D., Kuula, J., Hyvärinen, A.-P., Saarikoski, S., Rönkkö, T., Keskinen, J., Jalkanen, J.-P., and Timonen, H.: Effects of marine fuel sulfur restrictions on particle number concentrations and size distributions in ship plumes in the Baltic Sea, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3215–3234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3215-2021, 2021.
Sofiev, M., Winebrake, J. J., Johansson, L., Carr, E. W., Prank, M., Soares,
J., Vira, J., Kouznetsov, R., Jalkanen, J. P., and Corbett, J. J.: Cleaner
fuels for ships provide public health benefits with climate tradeoffs,
Nat. Commun., 9, 406, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02774-9, 2018.
statsmodels: statsmodels, GitHub [code], https://github.com/statsmodels/statsmodels, last access: 10 May 2023.
Toll, V., Christensen, M., Quaas, J., and Bellouin, N.: Weak average
liquid-cloud-water response to anthropogenic aerosols, Nature, 572, 51–55, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1423-9, 2019.
Twomey, S., Howell, H. B., and Wojciechowski, T. A.: Comments on “Anomalous
Cloud Lines”, J. Atmos. Sci., 25, 333–334, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1968)025<0333:Cocl>2.0.Co;2, 1968.
Twomey, S.: Pollution and the Planetary Albedo, Atmos. Environ., 8,
1251–1256, https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-6981(74)90004-3, 1974.
Twomey, S.: The Influence of Pollution on the Shortwave Albedo of Clouds,
J. Atmos. Sci., 34, 1149–1152, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1977)034<1149:tiopot>2.0.co;2, 1977.
Ventura, V., Paciorek, C. J., and Risbey, J. S.: Controlling the Proportion
of Falsely Rejected Hypotheses when Conducting Multiple Tests with
Climatological Data, J. Climate, 17, 4343–4356, https://doi.org/10.1175/3199.1,
2004.
Virtanen, P., Gommers, R., Oliphant, T. E., Haberland, M., Reddy, T.,
Cournapeau, D., Burovski, E., Peterson, P., Weckesser, W., Bright, J., van
der Walt, S. J., Brett, M., Wilson, J., Millman, K. J., Mayorov, N., Nelson,
A. R. J., Jones, E., Kern, R., Larson, E., Carey, C. J., Polat, I., Feng,
Y., Moore, E. W., VanderPlas, J., Laxalde, D., Perktold, J., Cimrman, R.,
Henriksen, I., Quintero, E. A., Harris, C. R., Archibald, A. M., Ribeiro, A.
H., Pedregosa, F., van Mulbregt, P., and SciPy, C.: SciPy 1.0: fundamental
algorithms for scientific computing in Python, Nat. Meth., 17, 261–272, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-019-0686-2, 2020.
Watson-Parris, D., Christensen, M. W., Laurenson, A., Clewley, D.,
Gryspeerdt, E., and Stier, P.: Shipping regulations lead to large reduction
in cloud perturbations, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 119, e2206885119, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2206885119, 2022.
Wielicki, B. A., Barkstrom, B. R., Harrison, E. F., Lee, R. B., Smith, G.
L., and Cooper, J. E.: Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES):
An Earth Observing System Experiment, B. Am.
Meteorol. Soc., 77, 853–868, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0853:Catere>2.0.Co;2, 1996.
Wood, R. and Bretherton, C. S.: On the Relationship between Stratiform Low
Cloud Cover and Lower-Tropospheric Stability, J. Climate, 19,
6425–6432, 2006.
Wood, R.: Assessing the potential efficacy of marine cloud brightening for cooling Earth using a simple heuristic model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14507–14533, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14507-2021, 2021.
Yuan, T., Wang, C., Song, H., Platnick, S., Meyer, K., and Oreopoulos, L.:
Automatically Finding Ship Tracks to Enable Large-Scale Analysis of
Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 7726–7733, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl083441, 2019.
Yuan, T., Song, H., Wood, R., Wang, C., Oreopoulos, L., Platnick, S. E., von
Hippel, S., Meyer, K., Light, S., and Wilcox, E.: Global reduction in
ship-tracks from sulfur regulations for shipping fuel, Science Advances, 8,
eabn7988, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn7988, 2022.
Zhang, Y., Eastham, S. D., Lau, A. K. H., Fung, J. C. H., and Selin, N. E.:
Global air quality and health impacts of domestic and international
shipping, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 084055, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac146b,
2021.
Zimmerman, D. L. and Stein, M.: Classical Geostatistical Methods, in:
Handbook of Spatial Statistics, edited by: Gelfand, A. E., Diggle, P. J.,
Fuentes, M., and Guttorp, P., 29–44, ISBN 13 978-1420072877, 2010.
Executive editor
In 2020, a new international law was imposed that placed strong restrictions on sulfur emissions from the international shipping industry. In addition to reducing air pollution, an anticipated side effect was reduction of the climate cooling effect that is often associated with "ship-tracks". Aerosol pollutant emissions from ships, when they rise into overlying clouds, lead to higher cloud droplet number concentrations, smaller cloud droplet sizes, and clouds that are more reflective to incoming sunlight, easily seen in satellite imagery as long bright lines downwind of ships. Past studies into whether the new law has led to darker clouds have been equivocal. For this study, the authors used sophisticated statistical techniques to compare cloud droplet size and reflectivity before and after the law was implemented focusing on a shipping corridor in the southeast Atlantic. They found strong evidence that droplet sizes have indeed increased, and that clouds have darkened with a significant local climate warming. Globally, the impact is much smaller, but may still represent an important consideration for assessments of the total summed effect of aerosols on climate.
In 2020, a new international law was imposed that placed strong restrictions on sulfur emissions...
Short summary
Fuel sulfur regulations were implemented for ships in 2020 to improve air quality but may also accelerate global warming. We use spatial statistics and satellite retrievals to detect changes in the size of cloud droplets and find evidence for a resulting decrease in cloud brightness within a major shipping corridor after the sulfur limits went into effect. Our results confirm both that the regulations are being followed and that they are having a warming influence via their effect on clouds.
Fuel sulfur regulations were implemented for ships in 2020 to improve air quality but may also...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint