The role of aerosols and meteorological conditions  in shaping cloud droplet development in New  Mexico summer deep-convective systems

Wu, Huihui; Marsden, Nicholas; Connolly, Paul; Flynn, Michael; Williams, Paul I.; Finney, Declan; Hu, Kezhen; Nott, Graeme J.; Thamban, Navaneeth M.; Bower, Keith; Blyth, Alan; Gallagher, Martin; Coe, Hugh

doi:10.5194/acp-25-18409-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 24

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18409-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18409-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 24

Research article

|

17 Dec 2025

Research article |

| 17 Dec 2025

The role of aerosols and meteorological conditions in shaping cloud droplet development in New Mexico summer deep-convective systems

Huihui Wu, Nicholas Marsden, Paul Connolly, Michael Flynn, Paul I. Williams, Declan Finney, Kezhen Hu, Graeme J. Nott, Navaneeth M. Thamban, Keith Bower, Alan Blyth, Martin Gallagher, and Hugh Coe

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18409-2025-supplement

Data sets

DCMEX: Collection of in-situ airborne observations, ground-based meteorological and aerosol measurements and cloud imagery for the Deep Convective Microphysics Experiment Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/B1211AD185E24B488D41DD98F957506C

DCMEX (Deep Convective Microphysics Experiment): in-situ airborne observations by the UK FAAM BAE-146 aircraft [Data set] H. Wu et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17335034

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Short summary

Airborne observations over the Magdalena Mountains in New Mexico underscore the combined influence of meteorological conditions and aerosol characteristics on the development of deep-convective clouds under different flow regimes. Model-observation comparisons emphasize the critical role of aerosol entrainment in reproducing the observed broad cloud droplet spectra. This study provides valuable constraints for improving parameterizations of aerosol-cloud interactions in deep convective systems.