Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects
Summary: Clouds control much of the Earth's energy and water budgets. Aerosols, suspended in the atmosphere, interact with clouds and affect their properties. Recent studies have suggested that the aerosol effect on warm convective cloud systems evolve in time and eventually approach a steady s...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2018-12-01
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| Series: | iScience |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004218302220 |
| _version_ | 1818173429815181312 |
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| author | Guy Dagan Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Yoav Lehahn |
| author_facet | Guy Dagan Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Yoav Lehahn |
| author_sort | Guy Dagan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Summary: Clouds control much of the Earth's energy and water budgets. Aerosols, suspended in the atmosphere, interact with clouds and affect their properties. Recent studies have suggested that the aerosol effect on warm convective cloud systems evolve in time and eventually approach a steady state for which the overall effects of aerosols can be considered negligible. Using numerical simulations, it was estimated that the time needed for such cloud fields to approach this state is >24 hr. These results suggest that the typical cloud field lifetime is an important parameter in determining the total aerosol effect. Here, analyzing satellite observations and reanalysis data (with the aid of numerical simulations), we show that the characteristic timescale of warm convective cloud fields is less than 12 hr. Such a timescale implies that these clouds should be regarded as transient-state phenomena and therefore can be highly susceptible to changes in aerosol properties. : Earth Sciences; Atmospheric Science; Atmosphere Modelling Subject Areas: Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science, Atmosphere Modelling |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T19:28:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1894a39df8c94f86a2a56589152ae60a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2589-0042 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T19:28:22Z |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | iScience |
| spelling | doaj.art-1894a39df8c94f86a2a56589152ae60a2022-12-22T00:53:21ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422018-12-0110192202Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol EffectsGuy Dagan0Ilan Koren1Orit Altaratz2Yoav Lehahn3Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, IsraelDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel; Corresponding authorDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, IsraelDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, IsraelSummary: Clouds control much of the Earth's energy and water budgets. Aerosols, suspended in the atmosphere, interact with clouds and affect their properties. Recent studies have suggested that the aerosol effect on warm convective cloud systems evolve in time and eventually approach a steady state for which the overall effects of aerosols can be considered negligible. Using numerical simulations, it was estimated that the time needed for such cloud fields to approach this state is >24 hr. These results suggest that the typical cloud field lifetime is an important parameter in determining the total aerosol effect. Here, analyzing satellite observations and reanalysis data (with the aid of numerical simulations), we show that the characteristic timescale of warm convective cloud fields is less than 12 hr. Such a timescale implies that these clouds should be regarded as transient-state phenomena and therefore can be highly susceptible to changes in aerosol properties. : Earth Sciences; Atmospheric Science; Atmosphere Modelling Subject Areas: Earth Sciences, Atmospheric Science, Atmosphere Modellinghttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004218302220 |
| spellingShingle | Guy Dagan Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Yoav Lehahn Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects iScience |
| title | Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects |
| title_full | Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects |
| title_fullStr | Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects |
| title_short | Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects |
| title_sort | shallow convective cloud field lifetime as a key factor for evaluating aerosol effects |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004218302220 |
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