An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in the Southeast Atlantic basin

Redemann, Jens; Wood, Robert; Zuidema, Paquita; Doherty, Sarah J.; Luna, Bernadette; LeBlanc, Samuel E.; Diamond, Michael S.; Shinozuka, Yohei; Chang, Ian Y.; Ueyama, Rei; Pfister, Leonhard; Ryoo, Ju-me; Dobracki, Amie N.; da Silva, Arlindo M.; Longo, Karla M.; Kacenelenbogen, Meloë S.; Flynn, Connor J.; Pistone, Kristina; Knox, Nichola M.; Piketh, Stuart J.; Haywood, James M.; Formenti, Paola; Mallet, Marc; Stier, Philip; Ackerman, Andrew S.; Bauer, Susanne E.; Fridlind, Ann M.; Carmichael, Gregory R.; Saide, Pablo E.; Ferrada, Gonzalo A.; Howell, Steven G.; Freitag, Steffen; Cairns, Brian; Holben, Brent N.; Knobelspiesse, Kirk D.; Tanelli, Simone; L'Ecuyer, Tristan S.; Dzambo, Andrew M.; Sy, Ousmane O.; McFarquhar, Greg M.; Poellot, Michael R.; Gupta, Siddhant; O'Brien, Joseph R.; Nenes, Athanasios; Kacarab, Mary E.; Wong, Jenny P. S.; Small-Griswold, Jennifer D.; Thornhill, Kenneth L.; Noone, David; Podolske, James R.; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Pilewskie, Peter; Chen, Hong; Cochrane, Sabrina P.; Sedlacek, Arthur J.; Lang, Timothy J.; Stith, Eric; Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal; Ferrare, Richard A.; Burton, Sharon P.; Hostetler, Chris A.; Diner, David J.; Platnick, Steven E.; Myers, Jeffrey S.; Meyer, Kerry G.; Spangenberg, Douglas A.; Maring, Hal; Gao, Lan

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-449

Jens Redemann¹, Robert Wood², Paquita Zuidema³, Sarah J. Doherty², Bernadette Luna⁴, Samuel E. LeBlanc^5,4, Michael S. Diamond², Yohei Shinozuka⁷, Ian Y. Chang¹, Rei Ueyama⁴, Leonhard Pfister⁴, Ju-me Ryoo^4,35, Amie N. Dobracki³, Arlindo M. da Silva⁶, Karla M. Longo^6,7, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen⁴, Connor J. Flynn¹, Kristina Pistone^5,4, Nichola M. Knox⁸, Stuart J. Piketh⁹, James M. Haywood¹⁰, Paola Formenti¹¹, Marc Mallet¹², Philip Stier¹³, Andrew S. Ackerman¹⁴, Susanne E. Bauer¹⁴, Ann M. Fridlind¹⁴, Gregory R. Carmichael¹⁵, Pablo E. Saide¹⁶, Gonzalo A. Ferrada¹⁵, Steven G. Howell¹⁷, Steffen Freitag¹⁷, Brian Cairns¹⁴, Brent N. Holben⁶, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse⁶, Simone Tanelli¹⁸, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer¹⁹, Andrew M. Dzambo¹⁹, Ousmane O. Sy²⁰, Greg M. McFarquhar¹, Michael R. Poellot²⁰, Siddhant Gupta¹, Joseph R. O'Brien²⁰, Athanasios Nenes^21,36,37, Mary E. Kacarab²¹, Jenny P. S. Wong²², Jennifer D. Small-Griswold²³, Kenneth L. Thornhill^24,33, David Noone^25,34, James R. Podolske⁴, K. Sebastian Schmidt²⁶, Peter Pilewskie²⁶, Hong Chen²⁶, Sabrina P. Cochrane²⁶, Arthur J. Sedlacek²⁷, Timothy J. Lang²⁸, Eric Stith²⁹, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer^4,5,30, Richard A. Ferrare²⁴, Sharon P. Burton²⁴, Chris A. Hostetler²⁴, David J. Diner¹⁸, Steven E. Platnick⁶, Jeffrey S. Myers³¹, Kerry G. Meyer⁶, Douglas A. Spangenberg³³, Hal Maring³², and Lan Gao¹ Jens Redemann et al.

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¹University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
²University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
³University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
⁴NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
⁵Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
⁶NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
⁷Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, USA
⁸Department of Geo-Spatial Sciences and Technology, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
⁹North-West University, Unit for Environmental Science and Management, Potchefstroom, North-West, South Africa
¹⁰College of Engineering, Maths and Physical Science, University of Exeter, UK
¹¹Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA, UMR 7583), Creteil, France
¹²Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Météo-France-CNRS, Toulouse, France
¹³Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
¹⁴NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
¹⁵Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research,University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
¹⁶Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
¹⁷Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
¹⁸Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
¹⁹Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
²⁰University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
²¹Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
²²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mount Allison University, Sackville, Canada
²³Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
²⁴NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
²⁵College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR, USA
²⁶University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
²⁷Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA
²⁸NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
²⁹National Suborbital Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
³⁰Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
³¹UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
³²NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA
³³Science Systems & Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, USA
³⁴Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
³⁵Science and Technology Corporation, Moffett Field, CA, USA
³⁶Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
³⁷Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece

¹University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
²University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
³University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
⁴NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
⁵Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, Moffett Field, CA, USA
⁶NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
⁷Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, MD, USA
⁸Department of Geo-Spatial Sciences and Technology, Namibia University of Science and Technology, Windhoek, Namibia
⁹North-West University, Unit for Environmental Science and Management, Potchefstroom, North-West, South Africa
¹⁰College of Engineering, Maths and Physical Science, University of Exeter, UK
¹¹Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA, UMR 7583), Creteil, France
¹²Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Météo-France-CNRS, Toulouse, France
¹³Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
¹⁴NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
¹⁵Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research,University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
¹⁶Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
¹⁷Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
¹⁸Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
¹⁹Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
²⁰University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA
²¹Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
²²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mount Allison University, Sackville, Canada
²³Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
²⁴NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
²⁵College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR, USA
²⁶University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
²⁷Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA
²⁸NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA
²⁹National Suborbital Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, USA
³⁰Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
³¹UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
³²NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA
³³Science Systems & Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, USA
³⁴Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
³⁵Science and Technology Corporation, Moffett Field, CA, USA
³⁶Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland
³⁷Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece

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Received: 08 May 2020 – Accepted for review: 07 Jun 2020 – Discussion started: 16 Jun 2020

Abstract. Southern Africa produces almost a third of the Earth’s biomass burning (BB) aerosol particles, yet the fate of these particles and their influence on regional and global climate is poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a five-year NASA EVS-2 (Earth Venture Suborbital-2) investigation with three Intensive Observation Periods designed to study key atmospheric processes that determine the climate impacts of these aerosols. During the Southern Hemisphere winter and spring (June-October), aerosol particles reaching 3–5 km in altitude are transported westward over the South-East Atlantic, where they interact with one of the largest subtropical stratocumulus subtropical stratocumulus (Sc) cloud decks in the world. The representation of these interactions in climate models remains highly uncertain in part due to a scarcity of observational constraints on aerosol and cloud properties, and due to the parameterized treatment of physical processes. Three ORACLES deployments by the NASA P-3 aircraft in September 2016, August 2017 and October 2018 (totaling ~350 science flight hours), augmented by the deployment of the NASA ER-2 aircraft for remote sensing in September 2016 (totaling ~100 science flight hours), were intended to help fill this observational gap. ORACLES focuses on three fundamental science questions centered on the climate effects of African BB aerosols: (a) direct aerosol radiative effects; (b) effects of aerosol absorption on atmospheric circulation and clouds; (c) aerosol-cloud microphysical interactions. This paper summarizes the ORACLES science objectives, describes the project implementation, provides an overview of the flights and measurements in each deployment, and highlights the integrative modeling efforts from cloud to global scales to address science objectives. Significant new findings on the vertical structure of BB aerosol physical and chemical properties, chemical aging, cloud condensation nuclei, rain and precipitation statistics, and aerosol indirect effects are emphasized, but their detailed descriptions are the subject of separate publications. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project and the data set it produced.

How to cite. Redemann, J., Wood, R., Zuidema, P., Doherty, S. J., Luna, B., LeBlanc, S. E., Diamond, M. S., Shinozuka, Y., Chang, I. Y., Ueyama, R., Pfister, L., Ryoo, J., Dobracki, A. N., da Silva, A. M., Longo, K. M., Kacenelenbogen, M. S., Flynn, C. J., Pistone, K., Knox, N. M., Piketh, S. J., Haywood, J. M., Formenti, P., Mallet, M., Stier, P., Ackerman, A. S., Bauer, S. E., Fridlind, A. M., Carmichael, G. R., Saide, P. E., Ferrada, G. A., Howell, S. G., Freitag, S., Cairns, B., Holben, B. N., Knobelspiesse, K. D., Tanelli, S., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Dzambo, A. M., Sy, O. O., McFarquhar, G. M., Poellot, M. R., Gupta, S., O'Brien, J. R., Nenes, A., Kacarab, M. E., Wong, J. P. S., Small-Griswold, J. D., Thornhill, K. L., Noone, D., Podolske, J. R., Schmidt, K. S., Pilewskie, P., Chen, H., Cochrane, S. P., Sedlacek, A. J., Lang, T. J., Stith, E., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Ferrare, R. A., Burton, S. P., Hostetler, C. A., Diner, D. J., Platnick, S. E., Myers, J. S., Meyer, K. G., Spangenberg, D. A., Maring, H., and Gao, L.: An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions in the Southeast Atlantic basin, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-449, in review, 2020.


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