Ice crystal complexity leads to weaker ice cloud radiative heating in idealized single-column simulations

Sepulveda Araya, Edgardo I.; Sullivan, Sylvia C.; Voigt, Aiko

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8943-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8943-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8943-2025

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

Articles | Volume 25, issue 15

Research article

|

14 Aug 2025

Research article |

| 14 Aug 2025

Ice crystal complexity leads to weaker ice cloud radiative heating in idealized single-column simulations

Edgardo I. Sepulveda Araya, Sylvia C. Sullivan, and Aiko Voigt

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8943-2025-supplement

Data sets

Dataset and dependencies for the 1D-analysis of sensitivity of ice cloud radiative heating rate Edgardo I. Sepulveda Araya https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13932430

Model code and software

Codes and notebooks for the 1D-analysis of sensitivity of ice cloud radiative heating rate Edgardo I. Sepulveda Araya https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13932540

ECMWF atmospheric radiation scheme (ecRad) version 1.5.0 Robin Hogan and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15075773

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Short summary

Clouds composed of ice crystals are key when evaluating atmospheric radiation. The morphology of the crystals found in clouds is not clear yet, and even less clear is the impact on the cloud heating rate, which is essential to describe precipitation and wind patterns. This motivated us to study how the heating rate behaves under a variety of ice complexity and environmental conditions, finding that increasing complexity in high and dense clouds weakens the heating rate.