Articles | Volume 25, issue 24
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18341-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-25-18341-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Dec 2025
Research article |
| 16 Dec 2025
| 16 Dec 2025
Aviation soot interactions with natural cirrus clouds are unlikely to have a significant impact on global climate
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Baptiste Testa
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
now at: UMR TETIS, AgroParisTech, Maison de la Télédétection, Montpellier, France
Christof G. Beer
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Johannes Hendricks
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Zamin A. Kanji
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Monica Sharma, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Anja Schmidt, Daniel Sauer, and Volker Grewe
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 8485–8510, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8485-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-8485-2025, 2025
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A plume model is developed to simulate aerosol microphysics in a dispersing aircraft plume, including interactions between ice crystals and aerosols in vortex regime. Compared to an instantaneous dispersion approach, the plume approach estimates 15 % lower aviation aerosol number concentrations, due to more efficient coagulation at plume scale. The model is sensitive to background conditions and initialization parameters, such as ice crystal number concentration and fuel sulfur content.
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The newly developed Horizontal Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (HCCNC) is capable of generating supersaturation as low as 0.05 % at temperatures as low as 4 °C, allowing for the investigation of CCN activity of ammonium sulfate particles up to 200 nm diameter and ambient aerosol of larger diameter. The HCCNC could be used for low-temperature experiments where gas-phase partitioning into or out of the aerosol phase for semi-volatile compounds is relevant for CCN activity.
Jin Maruhashi, Mattia Righi, Monica Sharma, Johannes Hendricks, Patrick Jöckel, Volker Grewe, and Irene C. Dedoussi
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Aerosol-cloud interactions remain a large source of uncertainty in assessing aviation’s climate impact. We develop, evaluate and present AIRTRAC v2.0 within the EMAC modeling framework, which enables tracking of aviation-emitted SO2 and H2SO4 as they are chemically transformed into sulfate aerosols and transported in the atmosphere. The development allows the identification of atmospheric regions with elevated potential for aerosol–cloud interactions due to sulfur emissions from aircraft.
Luis A. Ladino, Karin Ardon-Dryer, Diana L. Pereira, Ulrike Proske, Zyanya Ramirez-Diaz, Antonia Velicu, and Zamin A. Kanji
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4499, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4499, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscience Communication (GC).
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A survey and literature metadata analysis from the cloud physics community are used to investigate the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in the cloud physics research community. We show the evolution of gender contributions to cloud physics and the inclusion of scientists from the Global South. The publication analysis reveals the rate of men and women dropping out of the field is not different, however, gender balance was better achieved when women led publications compared to men.
Yann Cohen, Didier Hauglustaine, Zosia Staniaszek, Marianne Tronstad Lund, Irene Dedoussi, Sigrun Matthes, Flávio Quadros, Mattia Righi, Agnieszka Skowron, and Robin Thor
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4273, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4273, 2025
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Elena De La Torre Castro, Christof G. Beer, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Daniel Sauer, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, and Christiane Voigt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3913, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3913, 2025
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Ice nucleating particles strongly influence cirrus cloud properties but remain difficult to measure at cirrus temperatures. By combining EMAC model simulations with in situ observations from the CIRRUS-HL campaign, we investigate aerosol-cirrus interactions across latitudes. While the model generally agrees with observations, it overestimates ice crystal number concentrations detrained from convection, which we correct applying a new radius-temperature parametrization from the observations.
Mattia Righi, Simone Ehrenberger, Sabine Brinkop, Johannes Hendricks, Jens Hellekes, Paweł Banyś, Isheeka Dasgupta, Patrick Draheim, Annika Fitz, Manuel Löber, Thomas Pregger, Yvonne Scholz, Angelika Schulz, Birgit Suhr, Nina Thomsen, Christian Martin Weder, Peter Berster, Maximilian Clococeanu, Marc Gelhausen, Alexander Lau, Florian Linke, Sigrun Matthes, and Zarah Lea Zengerling
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-454, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-454, 2025
Revised manuscript under review for ESSD
Short summary
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The ELK emission inventory provides global emission data for the three transport sectors (land transport, shipping and aviation) and transport-related emissions for the energy sector (oil refineries). It features a detailed resolution of the emissions in different subsectors, transport-specific quantities like non-exhaust emissions, and aviation-specific parameters. The ELK dataset is complemented with uncertainty scores and is validated against other well-established global inventories.
Marilena Gidarakou, Alexandros Papayannis, Kunfeng Gao, Panagiotis Gidarakos, Benoit Crouzy, Romanos Foskinis, Sophie Erb, Cuiqi Zhang, Gian Lieberherr, Martine Collaud Coen, Branko Sikoparija, Zamin A. Kanji, Bernard Clot, Bertrand Calpini, Eugenia Giagka, and Athanasios Nenes
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2978, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2978, 2025
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Vertical profiles of pollen and biomass burning particles were obtained at a semi-rural site at the MeteoSwiss station near Payerne (Switzerland) using a novel multi-channel elastic-fluorescence lidar system combined with in situ measurements during the spring 2023 wildfires and pollination season during the PERICLES (PayernE lidaR and Insitu detection of fluorescent bioaerosol and dust partiCLES and their cloud impacts) campaign.
Guangyu Li, André Welti, Iris Thurnherr, Ulrike Lohmann, and Zamin A. Kanji
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2798, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2798, 2025
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This study presents ship-based measurements of summertime ice-nucleating particles (INPs) over the data-scarce Eurasian-Arctic Seas. We found that INPs are driven by both local and regional sources, with the highest levels observed near land and over ice-free waters. This study is highlighted for improving the understanding of INP abundance, sources, and their role in cloud processes in the rapidly warming Arctic.
Anna J. Miller, Christopher Fuchs, Fabiola Ramelli, Huiying Zhang, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5387–5407, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5387-2025, 2025
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We analyzed the ability of silver iodide particles (a commonly used cloud-seeding agent) to form ice crystals in naturally occurring liquid clouds at −5 to −8 °C and found that only ≈ 0.1 %−1 % of particles nucleate ice, with a negative dependence on temperature. By contextualizing our results with previous laboratory studies, we help to bridge the gap between laboratory and field experiments, which also helps to inform future cloud-seeding projects.
Jingmin Li, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Christof G. Beer, Ulrike Burkhardt, and Anja Schmidt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12727–12747, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12727-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12727-2024, 2024
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Socioeconomic Pathway scenarios. The results provide a clear and condensed picture of the spatial extent and distribution of aerosols for different time periods and emission scenarios.
Mariano Mertens, Sabine Brinkop, Phoebe Graf, Volker Grewe, Johannes Hendricks, Patrick Jöckel, Anna Lanteri, Sigrun Matthes, Vanessa S. Rieger, Mattia Righi, and Robin N. Thor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12079–12106, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12079-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12079-2024, 2024
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We quantified the contributions of land transport, shipping, and aviation emissions to tropospheric ozone; its radiative forcing; and the reductions of the methane lifetime using chemistry-climate model simulations. The contributions were analysed for the conditions of 2015 and for three projections for the year 2050. The results highlight the challenges of mitigating ozone formed by emissions of the transport sector, caused by the non-linearitiy of the ozone chemistry and the long lifetime.
Baptiste Testa, Lukas Durdina, Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10409–10424, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10409-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10409-2024, 2024
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Aviation soot residuals released from contrails can become compacted upon sublimation of the ice crystals, generating new voids in the aggregates where ice nucleation can occur. Here we show that contrail-processed soot is highly compact but that it remains unable to form ice at a relative humidity different from that required for the formation of background cirrus from the more ubiquitous aqueous solution droplets, suggesting that it will not perturb cirrus cloud formation via ice nucleation.
Baptiste Testa, Lukas Durdina, Peter A. Alpert, Fabian Mahrt, Christopher H. Dreimol, Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig, Zachary C. J. Decker, Julien Anet, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4537–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, 2024
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Laboratory experiments on the ice nucleation of real commercial aviation soot particles are investigated for their cirrus cloud formation potential. Our results show that aircraft-emitted soot in the upper troposphere will be poor ice-nucleating particles. Measuring the soot particle morphology and modifying their mixing state allow us to elucidate why these particles are ineffective at forming ice, in contrast to previously used soot surrogates.
Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, and Mattia Righi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3217–3240, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3217-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3217-2024, 2024
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Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) have important influences on cirrus clouds and the climate system; however, the understanding of their global impacts is still uncertain. We perform numerical simulations with a global aerosol–climate model to analyse INP-induced cirrus changes and the resulting climate impacts. We evaluate various sources of uncertainties, e.g. the ice-nucleating ability of INPs and the role of model dynamics, and provide a new estimate for the global INP–cirrus effect.
Anna J. Miller, Fabiola Ramelli, Christopher Fuchs, Nadja Omanovic, Robert Spirig, Huiying Zhang, Ulrike Lohmann, Zamin A. Kanji, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 601–625, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-601-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-601-2024, 2024
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We present a method for aerosol and cloud research using two uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs). The UAVs have a propeller heating mechanism that allows flights in icing conditions, which has so far been a limitation for cloud research with UAVs. One UAV burns seeding flares, producing a plume of particles that causes ice formation in supercooled clouds. The second UAV measures aerosol size distributions and is used for measuring the seeding plume or for characterizing the boundary layer.
Guangyu Li, Elise K. Wilbourn, Zezhen Cheng, Jörg Wieder, Allison Fagerson, Jan Henneberger, Ghislain Motos, Rita Traversi, Sarah D. Brooks, Mauro Mazzola, Swarup China, Athanasios Nenes, Ulrike Lohmann, Naruki Hiranuma, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10489–10516, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10489-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10489-2023, 2023
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In this work, we present results from an Arctic field campaign (NASCENT) in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard, on the abundance, variability, physicochemical properties, and potential sources of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) relevant for mixed-phase cloud formation. This work improves the data coverage of Arctic INPs and aerosol properties, allowing for the validation of models predicting cloud microphysical and radiative properties of mixed-phase clouds in the rapidly warming Arctic.
Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, and Sabine Brinkop
Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 835–859, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-835-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-835-2023, 2023
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Short summary
A global climate model is applied to quantify the impact of land transport, shipping, and aviation on aerosol and climate. The simulations show that these sectors provide relevant contributions to aerosol concentrations on the global scale and have a significant cooling effect on climate, which partly offsets their CO2 warming. Future projections under different scenarios show how the transport impacts can be related to the underlying storylines, with relevant consequences for policy-making.
Dimitri Castarède, Zoé Brasseur, Yusheng Wu, Zamin A. Kanji, Markus Hartmann, Lauri Ahonen, Merete Bilde, Markku Kulmala, Tuukka Petäjä, Jan B. C. Pettersson, Berko Sierau, Olaf Stetzer, Frank Stratmann, Birgitta Svenningsson, Erik Swietlicki, Quynh Thu Nguyen, Jonathan Duplissy, and Erik S. Thomson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3881–3899, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3881-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3881-2023, 2023
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Clouds play a key role in Earth’s climate by influencing the surface energy budget. Certain types of atmospheric aerosols, called ice-nucleating particles (INPs), induce the formation of ice in clouds and, thus, often initiate precipitation formation. The Portable Ice Nucleation Chamber 2 (PINCii) is a new instrument developed to study ice formation and to conduct ambient measurements of INPs, allowing us to investigate the sources and properties of the atmospheric aerosols that can act as INPs.
Robin N. Thor, Mariano Mertens, Sigrun Matthes, Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, Sabine Brinkop, Phoebe Graf, Volker Grewe, Patrick Jöckel, and Steven Smith
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 1459–1466, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1459-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-1459-2023, 2023
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We report on an inconsistency in the latitudinal distribution of aviation emissions between two versions of a data product which is widely used by researchers. From the available documentation, we do not expect such an inconsistency. We run a chemistry–climate model to compute the effect of the inconsistency in emissions on atmospheric chemistry and radiation and find that the radiative forcing associated with aviation ozone is 7.6 % higher when using the less recent version of the data.
Fabian Mahrt, Carolin Rösch, Kunfeng Gao, Christopher H. Dreimol, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1285–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, 2023
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Major aerosol types emitted by biomass burning include soot, ash, and charcoal particles. Here, we investigated the ice nucleation activity of 400 nm size-selected particles of two different pyrolyis-derived charcoal types in the mixed phase and cirrus cloud regime. We find that ice nucleation is constrained to cirrus cloud conditions, takes place via pore condensation and freezing, and is largely governed by the particle porosity and mineral content.
Christof G. Beer, Johannes Hendricks, and Mattia Righi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15887–15907, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15887-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15887-2022, 2022
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Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) have important influences on cirrus clouds and the climate system; however, their global atmospheric distribution in the cirrus regime is still very uncertain. We present a global climatology of INPs under cirrus conditions derived from model simulations, considering the mineral dust, soot, crystalline ammonium sulfate, and glassy organics INP types. The comparison of respective INP concentrations indicates the large importance of ammonium sulfate particles.
Guangyu Li, Jörg Wieder, Julie T. Pasquier, Jan Henneberger, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14441–14454, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14441-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14441-2022, 2022
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The concentration of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) is atmospherically relevant for primary ice formation in clouds. In this work, from 12 weeks of field measurement data in the Arctic, we developed a new parameterization to predict INP concentrations applicable for pristine background conditions based only on temperature. The INP parameterization could improve the cloud microphysical representation in climate models, aiding in Arctic climate predictions.
Florin N. Isenrich, Nadia Shardt, Michael Rösch, Julia Nette, Stavros Stavrakis, Claudia Marcolli, Zamin A. Kanji, Andrew J. deMello, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5367–5381, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5367-2022, 2022
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Ice nucleation in the atmosphere influences cloud properties and lifetimes. Microfluidic instruments have recently been used to investigate ice nucleation, but these instruments are typically made out of a polymer that contributes to droplet instability over extended timescales and relatively high temperature uncertainty. To address these drawbacks, we develop and validate a new microfluidic instrument that uses fluoropolymer tubing to extend droplet stability and improve temperature accuracy.
Jörg Wieder, Nikola Ihn, Claudia Mignani, Moritz Haarig, Johannes Bühl, Patric Seifert, Ronny Engelmann, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Ulrike Lohmann, and Jan Henneberger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9767–9797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9767-2022, 2022
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Ice formation and its evolution in mixed-phase clouds are still uncertain. We evaluate the lidar retrieval of ice-nucleating particle concentration in dust-dominated and continental air masses over the Swiss Alps with in situ observations. A calibration factor to improve the retrieval from continental air masses is proposed. Ice multiplication factors are obtained with a new method utilizing remote sensing. Our results indicate that secondary ice production occurs at temperatures down to −30 °C.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce Anderson, Ramon Campos Braga, Gao Chen, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan Crosbie, Hossein Dadashazar, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johannes Hendricks, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard Moore, Mira L. Pöhlker, Claire Robinson, Amy J. Scarino, Dominik Schollmayer, Michael A. Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Edward Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8299–8319, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8299-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8299-2022, 2022
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In this study we show that the vertical velocity dominantly impacts the cloud droplet number concentration (NC) of low-level clouds over the western North Atlantic in the winter and summer season, while the cloud condensation nuclei concentration, aerosol size distribution and chemical composition impact NC within a season. The observational data presented in this study can evaluate and improve the representation of aerosol–cloud interactions for a wide range of conditions.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7557–7573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, 2022
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Microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in clouds. INPs are a tiny proportion of atmospheric aerosol, and their abundance is poorly constrained. We study how the concentration of INPs changes diurnally and seasonally at a mountaintop station in central Europe. Unsurprisingly, a diurnal cycle is only found when considering air masses that have had lower-altitude ground contact. The highest INP concentrations occur in spring.
Cuiqi Zhang, Zhijun Wu, Jingchuan Chen, Jie Chen, Lizi Tang, Wenfei Zhu, Xiangyu Pei, Shiyi Chen, Ping Tian, Song Guo, Limin Zeng, Min Hu, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7539–7556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, 2022
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The immersion ice nucleation effectiveness of aerosols from multiple sources in the urban environment remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that the immersion ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentration increased dramatically during a dust event in an urban atmosphere. Pollutant aerosols, including inorganic salts formed through secondary transformation (SIA) and black carbon (BC), might not act as effective INPs under mixed-phase cloud conditions.
Kunfeng Gao, Chong-Wen Zhou, Eszter J. Barthazy Meier, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5331–5364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, 2022
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Incomplete combustion of fossil fuel produces carbonaceous particles called soot. These particles can affect cloud formation by acting as centres for droplet or ice formation. The atmospheric residence time of soot particles is of the order of days to weeks, which can result in them becoming coated by various trace species in the atmosphere such as acids. In this study, we quantify the cirrus cloud-forming ability of soot particles coated with the atmospherically ubiquitous sulfuric acid.
Zoé Brasseur, Dimitri Castarède, Erik S. Thomson, Michael P. Adams, Saskia Drossaart van Dusseldorp, Paavo Heikkilä, Kimmo Korhonen, Janne Lampilahti, Mikhail Paramonov, Julia Schneider, Franziska Vogel, Yusheng Wu, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Nina S. Atanasova, Dennis H. Bamford, Barbara Bertozzi, Matthew Boyer, David Brus, Martin I. Daily, Romy Fösig, Ellen Gute, Alexander D. Harrison, Paula Hietala, Kristina Höhler, Zamin A. Kanji, Jorma Keskinen, Larissa Lacher, Markus Lampimäki, Janne Levula, Antti Manninen, Jens Nadolny, Maija Peltola, Grace C. E. Porter, Pyry Poutanen, Ulrike Proske, Tobias Schorr, Nsikanabasi Silas Umo, János Stenszky, Annele Virtanen, Dmitri Moisseev, Markku Kulmala, Benjamin J. Murray, Tuukka Petäjä, Ottmar Möhler, and Jonathan Duplissy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5117–5145, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5117-2022, 2022
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The present measurement report introduces the ice nucleation campaign organized in Hyytiälä, Finland, in 2018 (HyICE-2018). We provide an overview of the campaign settings, and we describe the measurement infrastructure and operating procedures used. In addition, we use results from ice nucleation instrument inter-comparison to show that the suite of these instruments deployed during the campaign reports consistent results.
Kunfeng Gao, Franz Friebel, Chong-Wen Zhou, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4985–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, 2022
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Soot particles impact cloud formation and radiative properties in the upper atmosphere where aircraft emit carbonaceous particles. We use cloud chambers to mimic the upper atmosphere temperature and humidity to test the influence of the morphology of the soot particles on ice cloud formation. For particles larger than 200 nm, the compacted (densified) samples have a higher affinity for ice crystal formation in the cirrus regime than the fluffy (un-compacted) soot particles of the same sample.
Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Mario Schär, Lucie Roth, Michael Sprenger, Jan Henneberger, Ulrike Lohmann, Cyril Brunner, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3111–3130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3111-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3111-2022, 2022
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We investigate the variation in ice-nucleating particles (INPs) relevant for primary ice formation in mixed-phased clouds over the Alps based on simultaneous in situ observations at a mountaintop and a nearby high valley (1060 m height difference). In most cases, advection from the surrounding lower regions was responsible for changes in INP concentration, causing a diurnal cycle at the mountaintop. Our study underlines the importance of the planetary boundary layer as an INP reserve.
Jingmin Li, Johannes Hendricks, Mattia Righi, and Christof G. Beer
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 509–533, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-509-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-509-2022, 2022
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The growing complexity of global aerosol models results in a large number of parameters that describe the aerosol number, size, and composition. This makes the analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of the model results a challenge. To overcome this difficulty, we apply a machine learning classification method to identify clusters of specific aerosol types in global aerosol simulations. Our results demonstrate the spatial distributions and characteristics of these identified aerosol clusters.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Maxime Hervo, Stephan Henne, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18029–18053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, 2021
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Special microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in the atmosphere. INPs are sparse and their atmospheric concentration and properties are not well understood. Mineral dust particles make up a significant fraction of INPs but how much remains unknown. Here, we address this knowledge gap by studying periods when mineral particles are present in large quantities at a mountaintop station in central Europe.
Mattia Righi, Johannes Hendricks, and Christof Gerhard Beer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17267–17289, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17267-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17267-2021, 2021
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A global climate model is applied to simulate the impact of aviation soot on natural cirrus clouds. A large number of numerical experiments are performed to analyse how the quantification of the resulting climate impact is affected by known uncertainties. These concern the ability of aviation soot to nucleate ice and the role of model dynamics. Our results show that both aspects are important for the quantification of this effect and that discrepancies among different model studies still exist.
Larissa Lacher, Hans-Christian Clemen, Xiaoli Shen, Stephan Mertes, Martin Gysel-Beer, Alireza Moallemi, Martin Steinbacher, Stephan Henne, Harald Saathoff, Ottmar Möhler, Kristina Höhler, Thea Schiebel, Daniel Weber, Jann Schrod, Johannes Schneider, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16925–16953, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, 2021
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We investigate ice-nucleating particle properties at Jungfraujoch during the 2017 joint INUIT/CLACE field campaign, to improve the knowledge about those rare particles in a cloud-relevant environment. By quantifying ice-nucleating particles in parallel to single-particle mass spectrometry measurements, we find that mineral dust and aged sea spray particles are potential candidates for ice-nucleating particles. Our findings are supported by ice residual analysis and source region modeling.
Paraskevi Georgakaki, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Jörg Wieder, Claudia Mignani, Fabiola Ramelli, Zamin A. Kanji, Jan Henneberger, Maxime Hervo, Alexis Berne, Ulrike Lohmann, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10993–11012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10993-2021, 2021
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Aerosol and cloud observations coupled with a droplet activation parameterization was used to investigate the aerosol–cloud droplet link in alpine mixed-phase clouds. Predicted droplet number, Nd, agrees with observations and never exceeds a characteristic “limiting droplet number”, Ndlim, which depends solely on σw. Nd becomes velocity limited when it is within 50 % of Ndlim. Identifying when dynamical changes control Nd variability is central for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions.
Katja Weigel, Lisa Bock, Bettina K. Gier, Axel Lauer, Mattia Righi, Manuel Schlund, Kemisola Adeniyi, Bouwe Andela, Enrico Arnone, Peter Berg, Louis-Philippe Caron, Irene Cionni, Susanna Corti, Niels Drost, Alasdair Hunter, Llorenç Lledó, Christian Wilhelm Mohr, Aytaç Paçal, Núria Pérez-Zanón, Valeriu Predoi, Marit Sandstad, Jana Sillmann, Andreas Sterl, Javier Vegas-Regidor, Jost von Hardenberg, and Veronika Eyring
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3159–3184, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3159-2021, 2021
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This work presents new diagnostics for the Earth System Model Evaluation Tool (ESMValTool) v2.0 on the hydrological cycle, extreme events, impact assessment, regional evaluations, and ensemble member selection. The ESMValTool v2.0 diagnostics are developed by a large community of scientists aiming to facilitate the evaluation and comparison of Earth system models (ESMs) with a focus on the ESMs participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP).
Robert Wagner, Baptiste Testa, Michael Höpfner, Alexei Kiselev, Ottmar Möhler, Harald Saathoff, Jörn Ungermann, and Thomas Leisner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1977–1991, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1977-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1977-2021, 2021
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During the Asian summer monsoon period, air pollutants are transported from layers near the ground to high altitudes of 13 to 18 km in the atmosphere. Infrared measurements have shown that particles composed of solid ammonium nitrate are a major part of these pollutants. To enable the quantitative analysis of the infrared spectra, we have determined for the first time accurate optical constants of ammonium nitrate for the low-temperature conditions of the upper atmosphere.
Claudia Mignani, Jörg Wieder, Michael A. Sprenger, Zamin A. Kanji, Jan Henneberger, Christine Alewell, and Franz Conen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 657–664, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-657-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-657-2021, 2021
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Most precipitation above land starts with ice in clouds. It is promoted by extremely rare particles. Some ice-nucleating particles (INPs) cause cloud droplets to already freeze above −15°C, a temperature at which many clouds begin to snow. We found that the abundance of such INPs among other particles of similar size is highest in precipitating air masses and lowest when air carries desert dust. This brings us closer to understanding the interactions between land, clouds, and precipitation.
Cyril Brunner and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 269–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-269-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-269-2021, 2021
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Subvisual microscopic particles in the atmosphere are needed to act as seeds for cloud droplets or ice crystals to form. The microscopic particles, called ice-nucleating particles (INPs), form ice crystals and are rare, and their properties are not well understood, in part because measuring them is challenging and time consuming, and to date has not been automated. Here, we present the first online instrument that can continuously and autonomously measure INP concentration at 243 K.
Cited articles
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Barahona, D., Molod, A., and Kalesse, H.: Direct estimation of the global distribution of vertical velocity within cirrus clouds, Sci. Rep., 7, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07038-6, 2017. a
Baustian, K. J., Wise, M. E., and Tolbert, M. A.: Depositional ice nucleation on solid ammonium sulfate and glutaric acid particles, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 2307–2317, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-2307-2010, 2010. a
Beer, C. G., Hendricks, J., and Righi, M.: Impacts of ice-nucleating particles on cirrus clouds and radiation derived from global model simulations with MADE3 in EMAC, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3217–3240, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3217-2024, 2024. a, b, c, d
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Bhandari, J., China, S., Chandrakar, K. K., Kinney, G., Cantrell, W., Shaw, R. A., Mazzoleni, L. R., Girotto, G., Sharma, N., Gorkowski, K., Gilardoni, S., Decesari, S., Facchini, M. C., Zanca, N., Pavese, G., Esposito, F., Dubey, M. K., Aiken, A. C., Chakrabarty, R. K., Moosmüller, H., Onasch, T. B., Zaveri, R. A., Scarnato, B. V., Fialho, P., and Mazzoleni, C.: Extensive Soot Compaction by Cloud Processing from Laboratory and Field Observations, Sci. Rep., 9, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48143-y, 2019. a
Bond, T. C., Doherty, S. J., Fahey, D. W., Forster, P. M., Berntsen, T., DeAngelo, B. J., Flanner, M. G., Ghan, S., Kärcher, B., Koch, D., Kinne, S., Kondo, Y., Quinn, P. K., Sarofim, M. C., Schultz, M. G., Schulz, M., Venkataraman, C., Zhang, H., Zhang, S., Bellouin, N., Guttikunda, S. K., Hopke, P. K., Jacobson, M. Z., Kaiser, J. W., Klimont, Z., Lohmann, U., Schwarz, J. P., Shindell, D., Storelvmo, T., Warren, S. G., and Zender, C. S.: Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 5380–5552, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50171, 2013. a
Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Crutzen, P., Boumard, F., Dauer, T., Dix, B., Ebinghaus, R., Filippi, D., Fischer, H., Franke, H., Frieß, U., Heintzenberg, J., Helleis, F., Hermann, M., Kock, H. H., Koeppel, C., Lelieveld, J., Leuenberger, M., Martinsson, B. G., Miemczyk, S., Moret, H. P., Nguyen, H. N., Nyfeler, P., Oram, D., O'Sullivan, D., Penkett, S., Platt, U., Pupek, M., Ramonet, M., Randa, B., Reichelt, M., Rhee, T. S., Rohwer, J., Rosenfeld, K., Scharffe, D., Schlager, H., Schumann, U., Slemr, F., Sprung, D., Stock, P., Thaler, R., Valentino, F., van Velthoven, P., Waibel, A., Wandel, A., Waschitschek, K., Wiedensohler, A., Xueref-Remy, I., Zahn, A., Zech, U., and Ziereis, H.: Civil Aircraft for the regular investigation of the atmosphere based on an instrumented container: The new CARIBIC system, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 4953–4976, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-4953-2007, 2007. a
Brooks, S. D., Suter, K., and Olivarez, L.: Effects of Chemical Aging on the Ice Nucleation Activity of Soot and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Aerosols, J. Phys. Chem. A, 118, 10036–10047, https://doi.org/10.1021/jp508809y, 2014. a
Cziczo, D. J., Froyd, K. D., Hoose, C., Jensen, E. J., Diao, M., Zondlo, M. A., Smith, J. B., Twohy, C. H., and Murphy, D. M.: Clarifying the Dominant Sources and Mechanisms of Cirrus Cloud Formation, Science, 340, 1320–1324, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1234145, 2013. a
Dakhel, P. M., Lukachko, S. P., Waitz, I. A., Miake-Lye, R. C., and Brown, R. C.: Postcombustion Evolution of Soot Properties in an Aircraft Engine, J. Propul. Power, 23, 942–948, https://doi.org/10.2514/1.26738, 2007. a, b
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P., Kobayashi, S., Andrae, U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C. M., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Delsol, C., Dragani, R., Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S. B., Hersbach, H., Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P., Köhler, M., Matricardi, M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K., Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thépaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011. a
DeMott, P. J., Chen, Y., Kreidenweis, S. M., Rogers, D. C., and Sherman, D. E.: Ice formation by black carbon particles, Geophy. Res. Lett., 26, 2429–2432, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999GL900580, 1999. a
DeMott, P. J., Cziczo, D. J., Prenni, A. J., Murphy, D. M., Kreidenweis, S. M., Thomson, D. S., Borys, R., and Rogers, D. C.: Measurements of the concentration and composition of nuclei for cirrus formation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Unit. States Am., 100, 14655–14660, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2532677100, 2003. a
DeMott, P. J., Prenni, A. J., Liu, X., Kreidenweis, S. M., Petters, M. D., Twohy, C. H., Richardson, M. S., Eidhammer, T., and Rogers, D. C.: Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distributions and their impacts on climate, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. Unit. States Am., 107, 11217–11222, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0910818107, 2010. a
Durdina, L., Brem, B. T., Elser, M., Schönenberger, D., Siegerist, F., and Anet, J. G.: Reduction of Nonvolatile Particulate Matter Emissions of a Commercial Turbofan Engine at the Ground Level from the Use of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Blend, Environ. Sci. Technol., 55, 14576–14585, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04744, 2021. a
Gao, K. and Kanji, Z. A.: Impacts of Simulated Contrail Processing and Organic Content Change on the Ice Nucleation of Soot Particles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl099869, 2022. a
Gao, K., Friebel, F., Zhou, C.-W., and Kanji, Z. A.: Enhanced soot particle ice nucleation ability induced by aggregate compaction and densification, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4985–5016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4985-2022, 2022a. a
Gao, K., Koch, H.-C., Zhou, C.-W., and Kanji, Z. A.: The dependence of soot particle ice nucleation ability on its volatile content, Environ. Sci. Process Impacts, 24, 2043–2069, https://doi.org/10.1039/D2EM00158F, 2022b. a, b
Gao, K., Zhou, C.-W., Meier, E. J. B., and Kanji, Z. A.: Laboratory studies of ice nucleation onto bare and internally mixed soot–sulfuric acid particles, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5331–5364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5331-2022, 2022c. a
Gettelman, A. and Chen, C.: The climate impact of aviation aerosols, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 2785–2789, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50520, 2013. a, b, c
Groß, S., Jurkat-Witschas, T., Li, Q., Wirth, M., Urbanek, B., Krämer, M., Weigel, R., and Voigt, C.: Investigating an indirect aviation effect on mid-latitude cirrus clouds – linking lidar-derived optical properties to in situ measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8369–8381, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8369-2023, 2023. a, b
Hendricks, J., Kärcher, B., and Lohmann, U.: Effects of ice nuclei on cirrus clouds in a global climate model, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 116, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010jd015302, 2011. a, b, c
Hoesly, R. M., Smith, S. J., Feng, L., Klimont, Z., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Pitkanen, T., Seibert, J. J., Vu, L., Andres, R. J., Bolt, R. M., Bond, T. C., Dawidowski, L., Kholod, N., Kurokawa, J.-I., Li, M., Liu, L., Lu, Z., Moura, M. C. P., O'Rourke, P. R., and Zhang, Q.: Historical (1750–2014) anthropogenic emissions of reactive gases and aerosols from the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS), Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 369–408, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-369-2018, 2018. a
Jöckel, P., Kerkweg, A., Pozzer, A., Sander, R., Tost, H., Riede, H., Baumgaertner, A., Gromov, S., and Kern, B.: Development cycle 2 of the Modular Earth Submodel System (MESSy2), Geosci. Model Dev., 3, 717–752, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-3-717-2010, 2010. a
Kaiser, J. C., Hendricks, J., Righi, M., Jöckel, P., Tost, H., Kandler, K., Weinzierl, B., Sauer, D., Heimerl, K., Schwarz, J. P., Perring, A. E., and Popp, T.: Global aerosol modeling with MADE3 (v3.0) in EMAC (based on v2.53): model description and evaluation, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 541–579, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-541-2019, 2019. a, b
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Short summary
The effective radiative forcing due to the effect of aviation soot on natural cirrus clouds is likely very small, thus confirming most previous studies, but for the first time with the support of laboratory measurements specifically targeting aviation soot and its ice nucleation ability.
The effective radiative forcing due to the effect of aviation soot on natural cirrus clouds is...
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