Articles | Volume 24, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3529-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3529-2024
Research article
 | 
20 Mar 2024
Research article |  | 20 Mar 2024

Above-cloud concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei help to sustain some Arctic low-level clouds

Lucas J. Sterzinger and Adele L. Igel

Related authors

Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations
Lucas J. Sterzinger, Joseph Sedlar, Heather Guy, Ryan R. Neely III, and Adele L. Igel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8973–8988, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8973-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8973-2022, 2022
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)
Estimating the concentration of silver iodide needed to detect unambiguous signatures of glaciogenic cloud seeding
Jing Yang, Jiaojiao Li, Meilian Chen, Xiaoqin Jing, Yan Yin, Bart Geerts, Zhien Wang, Yubao Liu, Baojun Chen, Shaofeng Hua, Hao Hu, Xiaobo Dong, Ping Tian, Qian Chen, and Yang Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13833–13848, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13833-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13833-2024, 2024
Short summary
Ice-nucleating particle concentration impacts cloud properties over Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, in COSMO-CLM2
Florian Sauerland, Niels Souverijns, Anna Possner, Heike Wex, Preben Van Overmeiren, Alexander Mangold, Kwinten Van Weverberg, and Nicole van Lipzig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13751–13768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13751-2024, 2024
Short summary
Numerical simulation of aerosol concentration effects on cloud droplet size spectrum evolutions of warm stratiform clouds in Jiangxi, China
Yi Li, Xiaoli Liu, and Hengjia Cai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13525–13540, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13525-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13525-2024, 2024
Short summary
The impact of aerosol on cloud water: a heuristic perspective
Fabian Hoffmann, Franziska Glassmeier, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13403–13412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024, 2024
Short summary
The presence of clouds lowers climate sensitivity in the MPI-ESM1.2 climate model
Andrea Mosso, Thomas Hocking, and Thorsten Mauritsen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12793–12806, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12793-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12793-2024, 2024
Short summary

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. a
Bulatovic, I., Igel, A. L., Leck, C., Heintzenberg, J., Riipinen, I., and Ekman, A. M. L.: The importance of Aitken mode aerosol particles for cloud sustenance in the summertime high Arctic – a simulation study supported by observational data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3871–3897, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3871-2021, 2021. a, b, c
Cotton, W. R., Pielke Sr., R. A., Walko, R. L., Liston, G. E., Tremback, C. J., Jiang, H., McAnelly, R. L., Harrington, J. Y., Nicholls, M. E., Carrio, G. G., and McFadden, J. P.: RAMS 2001: Current Status and Future Directions, Meteorol. Atmos. Phys., 82, 5–29, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-001-0584-9, 2003. a
Creamean, J. M., de Boer, G., Telg, H., Mei, F., Dexheimer, D., Shupe, M. D., Solomon, A., and McComiskey, A.: Assessing the vertical structure of Arctic aerosols using balloon-borne measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1737–1757, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1737-2021, 2021. a, b
Deardorff, J. W.: Stratocumulus-Capped Mixed Layers Derived from a Three-Dimensional Model, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 18, 495–527, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119502, 1980. a
Download
Short summary
Using idealized large eddy simulations, we find that clouds forming in the Arctic in environments with low concentrations of aerosol particles may be sustained by mixing in new particles through the cloud top. Observations show that higher concentrations of these particles regularly exist above cloud top in concentrations that are sufficient to promote this sustenance.
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint