A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean
<p>Climate predictions for the rapidly changing Arctic are highly uncertain, largely due to a poor understanding of the processes driving cloud properties. In particular, cloud fraction (CF) and cloud phase (CP) have major impacts on energy budgets, but are poorly represented in most model...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2018-10-01
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| Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| Online Access: | https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/14949/2018/acp-18-14949-2018.pdf |
| _version_ | 1819131606522134528 |
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| author | L. M. Zamora L. M. Zamora R. A. Kahn K. B. Huebert A. Stohl S. Eckhardt |
| author_facet | L. M. Zamora L. M. Zamora R. A. Kahn K. B. Huebert A. Stohl S. Eckhardt |
| author_sort | L. M. Zamora |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Climate predictions for the rapidly changing Arctic are
highly uncertain, largely due to a poor understanding of the processes
driving cloud properties. In particular, cloud fraction (CF) and cloud phase
(CP) have major impacts on energy budgets, but are poorly represented in most
models, often because of uncertainties in aerosol–cloud interactions. Here,
we use over 10 million satellite observations coupled with aerosol transport
model simulations to quantify large-scale microphysical effects of aerosols
on CF and CP over the Arctic Ocean during polar night, when direct and
semi-direct aerosol effects are minimal. Combustion aerosols over sea ice are
associated with very large (∼ 10 W m<sup>−2</sup>) differences in longwave
cloud radiative effects at the sea ice surface. However, co-varying
meteorological changes on factors such as CF likely explain the majority of
this signal. For example, combustion aerosols explain at most 40 % of the
CF differences between the full dataset and the clean-condition subset,
compared to between 57 % and 91 % of the differences that can be
predicted by co-varying meteorology. After normalizing for meteorological
regime, aerosol microphysical effects have small but significant impacts on
CF, CP, and precipitation frequency on an Arctic-wide scale. These effects
indicate that dominant aerosol–cloud microphysical mechanisms are related to
the relative fraction of liquid-containing clouds, with implications for a
warming Arctic.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:18:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0c3b0acc01ae4f97b40148c60f089250 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T09:18:11Z |
| publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-0c3b0acc01ae4f97b40148c60f0892502022-12-21T18:31:16ZengCopernicus PublicationsAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics1680-73161680-73242018-10-0118149491496410.5194/acp-18-14949-2018A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic OceanL. M. Zamora0L. M. Zamora1R. A. Kahn2K. B. Huebert3A. Stohl4S. Eckhardt5Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USANASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USAHorn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD, USANILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, NorwayNILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway<p>Climate predictions for the rapidly changing Arctic are highly uncertain, largely due to a poor understanding of the processes driving cloud properties. In particular, cloud fraction (CF) and cloud phase (CP) have major impacts on energy budgets, but are poorly represented in most models, often because of uncertainties in aerosol–cloud interactions. Here, we use over 10 million satellite observations coupled with aerosol transport model simulations to quantify large-scale microphysical effects of aerosols on CF and CP over the Arctic Ocean during polar night, when direct and semi-direct aerosol effects are minimal. Combustion aerosols over sea ice are associated with very large (∼ 10 W m<sup>−2</sup>) differences in longwave cloud radiative effects at the sea ice surface. However, co-varying meteorological changes on factors such as CF likely explain the majority of this signal. For example, combustion aerosols explain at most 40 % of the CF differences between the full dataset and the clean-condition subset, compared to between 57 % and 91 % of the differences that can be predicted by co-varying meteorology. After normalizing for meteorological regime, aerosol microphysical effects have small but significant impacts on CF, CP, and precipitation frequency on an Arctic-wide scale. These effects indicate that dominant aerosol–cloud microphysical mechanisms are related to the relative fraction of liquid-containing clouds, with implications for a warming Arctic.</p>https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/14949/2018/acp-18-14949-2018.pdf |
| spellingShingle | L. M. Zamora L. M. Zamora R. A. Kahn K. B. Huebert A. Stohl S. Eckhardt A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
| title | A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean |
| title_full | A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean |
| title_fullStr | A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean |
| title_full_unstemmed | A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean |
| title_short | A satellite-based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean |
| title_sort | satellite based estimate of combustion aerosol cloud microphysical effects over the arctic ocean |
| url | https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/18/14949/2018/acp-18-14949-2018.pdf |
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