Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation
Many theories have been proposed detailing how aerosols might impact precipitation, predicting both increases and decreases depending on the prevailing meteorological conditions and aerosol type. In convective clouds, increased aerosol concentrations have been speculated to invigorate convective act...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal article |
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Copernicus Publications
2014
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| _version_ | 1797083699278249984 |
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| author | Gryspeerdt, E Stier, P Partridge, D |
| author2 | European Geosciences Union |
| author_facet | European Geosciences Union Gryspeerdt, E Stier, P Partridge, D |
| author_sort | Gryspeerdt, E |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Many theories have been proposed detailing how aerosols might impact precipitation, predicting both increases and decreases depending on the prevailing meteorological conditions and aerosol type. In convective clouds, increased aerosol concentrations have been speculated to invigorate convective activity. Previous studies have shown large increases in precipitation with increasing aerosol optical depth, concluding an aerosol effect on precipitation. Our analysis reveals that these studies may have been influenced by cloud effects on the retrieved aerosol, as well as by meteorological covariations. We use a regime-based approach to separate out different cloud regimes, allowing the study of aerosol-cloud interactions in individual cloud regimes. We account for the influence of cloud properties on the aerosol retrieval and make use of the diurnal sampling of the TRMM satellite and the TRMM merged precipitation product to investigate the precipitation development. We find that whilst there is little effect on precipitation at the time of the aerosol retrieval, there is an increase in precipitation from cloud in high aerosol environments in the 6 h after the aerosol retrieval, consistent with the invigoration hypothesis. Increases in lightning flash count with increased aerosol are also observed in this period. The invigoration effect appears to be dependent on the cloud top temperature, with clouds with tops colder than 0 °C showing increases in precipitation at times after the retrieval as well as increases in wet scavenging. Warm clouds show little change in precipitation development with increasing aerosol, suggesting ice processes are important for the invigoration of precipitation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:45:09Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:98272fab-5445-41ee-90f4-22365772310a |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T01:45:09Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:98272fab-5445-41ee-90f4-22365772310a2022-03-27T00:05:07ZLinks between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:98272fab-5445-41ee-90f4-22365772310aSymplectic Elements at OxfordCopernicus Publications2014Gryspeerdt, EStier, PPartridge, DEuropean Geosciences UnionMany theories have been proposed detailing how aerosols might impact precipitation, predicting both increases and decreases depending on the prevailing meteorological conditions and aerosol type. In convective clouds, increased aerosol concentrations have been speculated to invigorate convective activity. Previous studies have shown large increases in precipitation with increasing aerosol optical depth, concluding an aerosol effect on precipitation. Our analysis reveals that these studies may have been influenced by cloud effects on the retrieved aerosol, as well as by meteorological covariations. We use a regime-based approach to separate out different cloud regimes, allowing the study of aerosol-cloud interactions in individual cloud regimes. We account for the influence of cloud properties on the aerosol retrieval and make use of the diurnal sampling of the TRMM satellite and the TRMM merged precipitation product to investigate the precipitation development. We find that whilst there is little effect on precipitation at the time of the aerosol retrieval, there is an increase in precipitation from cloud in high aerosol environments in the 6 h after the aerosol retrieval, consistent with the invigoration hypothesis. Increases in lightning flash count with increased aerosol are also observed in this period. The invigoration effect appears to be dependent on the cloud top temperature, with clouds with tops colder than 0 °C showing increases in precipitation at times after the retrieval as well as increases in wet scavenging. Warm clouds show little change in precipitation development with increasing aerosol, suggesting ice processes are important for the invigoration of precipitation. |
| spellingShingle | Gryspeerdt, E Stier, P Partridge, D Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title | Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title_full | Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title_fullStr | Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title_short | Links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| title_sort | links between satellite retrieved aerosol and precipitation |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gryspeerdte linksbetweensatelliteretrievedaerosolandprecipitation AT stierp linksbetweensatelliteretrievedaerosolandprecipitation AT partridged linksbetweensatelliteretrievedaerosolandprecipitation |