Articles | Volume 24, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5713-2024
© Author(s) 2024. 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-24-5713-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
17 May 2024
Research article |
| 17 May 2024
| 17 May 2024
Interactions between trade wind clouds and local forcings over the Great Barrier Reef: a case study using convection-permitting simulations
School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Science, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extreme (CLEX), Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Steven Siems
Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Climate Extreme (CLEX), Melbourne, VIC, Australia
School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Michael Manton
School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Daniel Harrison
National Marine Science Centre, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia
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Aerosols play a role in global climate by interacting with incoming solar radiation and by taking up water vapour from the atmosphere to form clouds. Enhancing local-scale cloud cover can reduce sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching events increased in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) as sea surface temperatures rise. Our study found that the number of aerosols and the cloud forming ability over the GBR increased if the aerosols were transported from inland Australia rather than the ocean.
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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.
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Marine low-level clouds cover vast areas of the Southern Ocean, and they are essential to the Earth system energy balance. We use 3 years of satellite observations to group low-level clouds by their spatial structure using a pattern-recognizing program. We studied two primary cloud type patterns, i.e. open and closed clouds. Open clouds are uniformly distributed over the storm track, while closed clouds are most predominant in the southeastern Indian Ocean. Closed clouds exhibit a daily cycle.
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Short summary
We studied how shallow clouds and rain behave over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) using a detailed weather model. We found that the shape of the land, especially mountains, and particles in the air play big roles in influencing these clouds. Surprisingly, the sea's temperature had a smaller effect. Our research helps us understand the GBR's climate and how various factors can influence it, where the importance of the local cloud in thermal coral bleaching has recently been identified.
We studied how shallow clouds and rain behave over the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) using a detailed...
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