Differences in aerosol and cloud properties along the central California coast when winds change from northerly to southerly

Zeider, Kira; Betito, Grace; Bucholtz, Anthony; Xian, Peng; Walker, Annette; Sorooshian, Armin

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9059-2024

Articles | Volume 24, issue 16

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9059-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9059-2024

© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 24, issue 16

Research article

|

22 Aug 2024

Research article |

| 22 Aug 2024

Differences in aerosol and cloud properties along the central California coast when winds change from northerly to southerly

Kira Zeider, Grace Betito, Anthony Bucholtz, Peng Xian, Annette Walker, and Armin Sorooshian

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9059-2024-supplement

Data sets

A Multi-Year Data Set on Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation-Meteorology Interactions for Marine Stratocumulus Clouds Armin Sorooshian et al. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5099983.v11

GOES-WEST Full-Disk Cloud Products (Real Time) Satellite Cloud and Radiation Property Retrieval System (SatCORPS) https://satcorps.larc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/site/showdoc?docid=22&domain=gw_fd&lkdomain=Y

Archived US surface analyses between 2010-2011 with color National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/archives/web_pages/sfc/sfc_archive.php

Time Averaged Maps of MODIS-Aqua data between 2010-2020 NASA Giovanni https://giovanni.gsfc.nasa.gov/giovanni/

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Short summary

The predominant wind direction along the California coast (northerly) reverses several times during the summer (to southerly). The effects of these wind reversals on aerosol and cloud characteristics are not well understood. Using data from multiple datasets we found that southerly flow periods had enhanced signatures of anthropogenic emissions due to shipping and continental sources, and clouds had more but smaller droplets.