scholarly journals The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 17475-17488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Possner ◽  
Hailong Wang ◽  
Robert Wood ◽  
Ken Caldeira ◽  
Thomas P. Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Emission Line ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Detection And Attribution ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Ship Tracks ◽  
Cloud Radiative Properties

Abstract. Aerosol–cloud radiative effects are determined and quantified in simulations of deep open-cell stratocumuli observed during the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) campaign off the west coast of Chile. The cloud deck forms in a boundary layer 1.5 km deep, with cell sizes reaching 50 km in diameter. Global databases of ship tracks suggest that these linear structures are seldom found in boundary layers this deep. Here, we quantify the changes in cloud radiative properties to a continuous aerosol point source moving along a fixed emission line releasing 1017 particles per second. We show that a spatially coherent cloud perturbation is not evident along the emission line. Yet our model simulates an increase in domain-mean all-sky albedo of 0.05, corresponding to a diurnally averaged cloud radiative effect of 20 W m−2, given the annual mean solar insolation at the VOCALS-REx site. Therefore, marked changes in cloud radiative properties in precipitating deep open cells may be driven by anthropogenic near-surface aerosol perturbations, such as those generated by ships. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these changes in cloud radiative properties are masked by the naturally occurring variability within the organised cloud field. A clear detection and attribution of cloud radiative effects to a perturbation in aerosol concentrations becomes possible when sub-filtering of the cloud field is applied, using the spatio-temporal distribution of the aerosol perturbation. Therefore, this work has implications for the detection and attribution of effective cloud radiative forcing in marine stratocumuli, which constitutes one of the major physical uncertainties within the climate system. Our results suggest that ships may sometimes have a substantial radiative effect on marine clouds and albedo, even when ship tracks are not readily visible.

scholarly journals The efficacy of aerosol-cloud-radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumulus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Possner ◽  
Hailong Wang ◽  
Robert Wood ◽  
Ken Caldeira ◽  
Thomas Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Emission Line ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Detection And Attribution ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Ship Tracks ◽  
Cloud Radiative Properties

Abstract. Aerosol-cloud-radiative effects are determined and quantified in simulations of deep open-cell stratocumuli observed during the VOCALS-REx campaign off the West coast of Chile. The cloud deck forms in a 1.5 km deep boundary layer with cell sizes reaching 50 km in diameter. Global data bases of ship tracks suggest that these linear structures are seldom found in boundary layers this deep. Here, we quantify the changes in cloud-radiative properties to a continuous aerosol point source moving along a fixed emission line releasing 1017 particles per second. We show that a spatially coherent cloud perturbation is not evident along the emission line. Yet, our models simulates an increase in domain-mean all-sky albedo of 0.05 corresponding to a diurnally-averaged cloud-radiative effect of 20 W m−2 given the annual mean solar insolation at the VOCALS-REx site. Therefore, marked changes in cloud-radiative properties in precipitating deep open cells may be driven by anthropogenic near-surface aerosol perturbations such as ships. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these changes in cloud-radiative properties are masked by the natural variability within the organised cloud field. A clear detection and attribution of cloud-radiative effects to a perturbation in aerosol concentrations becomes possible when sub-filtering of the cloud field is applied utilising the spatio-temporal distribution of the aerosol perturbation. Therefore, this work has implications for the detection and attribution of effective cloud-radiative forcing in marine stratocumuli, which constitutes one of the major physical uncertainties within the climate system. Our results suggest that ships may sometimes have a substantial radiative effect on marine clouds and albedo even when ship tracks are not readily visible.

scholarly journals Exploring Relations between Cloud Morphology, Cloud Phase, and Cloud Radiative Properties in Southern Ocean Stratocumulus Clouds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Danker ◽  
Odran Sourdeval ◽  
Isabel L. McCoy ◽  
Robert Wood ◽  
Anna Possner
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Cloud Albedo ◽  
Organizational Patterns ◽  
Cloud Radiative Properties

Abstract. Marine stratocumuli are the most dominant cloud type by area coverage in the Southern Ocean (SO). They can be divided into different self-organized cellular morphological regimes known as open and closed mesoscale-cellular convec- tive (MCC) clouds. Open and closed cells are the two most frequent types of organizational regimes in the SO. Using the liDAR- raDAR (DARDAR) version 2 retrievals, we quantify 59 % of all MCC clouds in this region as mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) during a 4-year time period from 2007 to 2010. The net radiative effect of SO MCC clouds is governed by changes in cloud albedo. Both, cloud morphology and phase, have previously been shown to impact cloud albedo individually, but their interac- tions and their combined impact on cloud albedo remain unclear. Here, we investigate the relationships between cloud phase, organizational patterns, and their differences regarding their cloud radiative properties in the SO. The mixed-phase fraction, which is defined as the number of MPCs divided by the sum of MPC and supercooled liquid cloud (SLC) pixels, of all MCC clouds at a given cloud-top temperature (CTT) varies considerably between austral summer and winter. We further find that seasonal changes in cloud phase at a given CTT across all latitudes are largely independent of cloud morphology and are thus seemingly constrained by other external factors. Overall, our results show a stronger dependence of cloud phase on cloud-top height (CTH) than CTT for clouds below 2.5 km in altitude. Preconditioning through ice-phase processes in MPCs has been observed to accelerate individual closed to open cell transitions in extratropical stratocumuli. The hypothesis of preconditioning has been further substantiated in large-eddy simulations of open and closed MPCs. In this study, we do not find preconditioning to primarily impact climatological SO cloud mor- phology statistics. Meanwhile, in-cloud albedo analysis reveals stronger changes in open and closed cell albedo in SLCs than MPCs. In particular few optically thick (cloud optical thickness > 10) open cell stratocumuli are characterized as ice-free SLCs. Theses differences in in-cloud albedo are found to alter the cloud radiative effect in the SO by 12 W m−2 to 39 W m−2 depending on season and cloud phase.

Reassessing the Effect of Cloud Type on Earth’s Energy Balance in the Age of Active Spaceborne Observations. Part I: Top of Atmosphere and Surface

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 6197-6217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan S. L’Ecuyer ◽  
Yun Hang ◽  
Alexander V. Matus ◽  
Zhien Wang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Vertical Structure ◽  
Classical Problem ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects

AbstractThis study revisits the classical problem of quantifying the radiative effects of unique cloud types in the era of spaceborne active observations. The radiative effects of nine cloud types, distinguished based on their vertical structure defined by CloudSat and CALIPSO observations, are assessed at both the top of the atmosphere and the surface. The contributions from single- and multilayered clouds are explicitly diagnosed. The global, annual mean net cloud radiative effect at the top of the atmosphere is found to be −17.1 ± 4.2 W m−2 owing to −44.2 ± 2 W m−2 of shortwave cooling and 27.1 ± 3.7 W m−2 of longwave heating. Leveraging explicit cloud base and vertical structure information, we further estimate the annual mean net cloud radiative effect at the surface to be −24.8 ± 8.7 W m−2 (−51.1 ± 7.8 W m−2 in the shortwave and 26.3 ± 3.8 W m−2 in the longwave). Multilayered clouds are found to exert the strongest influence on the top-of-atmosphere energy balance. However, a strong asymmetry in net cloud radiative cooling between the hemispheres (8.6 W m−2) is dominated by enhanced cooling from stratocumulus over the southern oceans. It is found that there is no corresponding asymmetry at the surface owing to enhanced longwave emission by southern ocean clouds in winter, which offsets a substantial fraction of their impact on solar absorption in summer. Thus the asymmetry in cloud radiative effects is entirely realized as an atmosphere heating imbalance between the hemispheres.

scholarly journals The Role of Cloud Radiative Heating in Determining the Location of the ITCZ in Aquaplanet Simulations

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 2741-2763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryce E. Harrop ◽  
Dennis L. Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Hadley Circulation ◽  
Radiative Heating ◽  
Moisture Convergence ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Onset Of Convection ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The relationship between the tropical circulation and cloud radiative effect is investigated. Output from the Clouds On–Off Klimate Intercomparison Experiment (COOKIE) is used to examine the impact of cloud radiative effects on circulation and climate. In aquaplanet simulations with a fixed SST pattern, the cloud radiative effect leads to an equatorward contraction of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and a reduction of the double ITCZ problem. It is shown that the cloud radiative heating in the upper troposphere increases the temperature, weakens CAPE, and inhibits the onset of convection until it is closer to the equator, where SSTs are higher. Precipitation peaks at higher values in a narrower band when the cloud radiative effects are active, compared to when they are inactive, owing to the enhancement in moisture convergence. Additionally, cloud–radiation interactions strengthen the mean meridional circulation and consequently enhance the moisture convergence. Although the mean tropical precipitation decreases, the atmospheric cloud radiative effect has a strong meridional gradient, which supports stronger poleward energy flux and speeds up the Hadley circulation. Cloud radiative heating also enhances cloud water path (liquid plus ice), which, combined with the reduction in precipitation, suggests that the cloud radiative heating reduces precipitation efficiency in these models.

scholarly journals The importance of the representation of air pollution emissions for the modeled distribution and radiative effects of black carbon in the Arctic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Schacht ◽  
Bernd Heinold ◽  
Johannes Quaas ◽  
John Backman ◽  
Ribu Cherian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Current Model ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Radiation Balance ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions

Abstract. Aerosol particles can contribute to the Arctic Amplification by direct and indirect radiative effects. Specifically, black carbon (BC) in the atmosphere, and when deposited on snow and sea ice, has a positive effect on the top of atmosphere radiation balance during polar day. Current climate models, however, are still struggling to reproduce Arctic aerosol conditions. We present an evaluation study with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3 to examine emission-related uncertainties in the BC distribution and the direct radiative effect of BC. The model results are comprehensively compared against latest ground and air-borne aerosol observations for the period 2005–2017 with focus on BC. Four different setups of air pollution emissions are tested. The simulations in general match well with the observed amount and temporal variability of near-surface BC in the Arctic. Using actual daily instead of fixed biomass burning emissions is crucial to reproduce individual pollution events but has only a small influence on the seasonal cycle of BC. Compared to commonly used fixed anthropogenic emissions for the year 2000, an up-to-date inventory with transient air pollution emissions results in up to 30 % higher annual BC burden and an over 0.2 W m−2 higher annual mean all-sky net direct radiative effect of BC at top of the atmosphere over the Eastern Arctic Ocean. We estimate BC in the Arctic to lead to a net gain of up 0.8 W m−2 by the direct radiative effect of atmospheric BC plus the effect by an albedo reduction by BC-in-snow. Long-range transport is identified as one of the main sources of uncertainties for ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3, leading to an overestimation of BC in atmospheric layers above 500 hPa especially in summer. This is related to a misrepresentation in wet removal in one identified case at least, that was observed during the ARCTAS summer aircraft campaign. Over all, the current model version has significantly improved since previous intercomparison studies and performs now better than the AeroCom average in terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of Arctic BC.

scholarly journals The importance of the representation of air pollution emissions for the modeled distribution and radiative effects of black carbon in the Arctic

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (17) ◽  
pp. 11159-11183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Schacht ◽  
Bernd Heinold ◽  
Johannes Quaas ◽  
John Backman ◽  
Ribu Cherian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Pollution Emissions ◽  
Air Pollution Emissions ◽  
The Arctic Region

Abstract. Aerosol particles can contribute to the Arctic amplification (AA) by direct and indirect radiative effects. Specifically, black carbon (BC) in the atmosphere, and when deposited on snow and sea ice, has a positive warming effect on the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation balance during the polar day. Current climate models, however, are still struggling to reproduce Arctic aerosol conditions. We present an evaluation study with the global aerosol-climate model ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3 to examine emission-related uncertainties in the BC distribution and the direct radiative effect of BC. The model results are comprehensively compared against the latest ground and airborne aerosol observations for the period 2005–2017, with a focus on BC. Four different setups of air pollution emissions are tested. The simulations in general match well with the observed amount and temporal variability in near-surface BC in the Arctic. Using actual daily instead of fixed biomass burning emissions is crucial for reproducing individual pollution events but has only a small influence on the seasonal cycle of BC. Compared with commonly used fixed anthropogenic emissions for the year 2000, an up-to-date inventory with transient air pollution emissions results in up to a 30 % higher annual BC burden locally. This causes a higher annual mean all-sky net direct radiative effect of BC of over 0.1 W m−2 at the top of the atmosphere over the Arctic region (60–90∘ N), being locally more than 0.2 W m−2 over the eastern Arctic Ocean. We estimate BC in the Arctic as leading to an annual net gain of 0.5 W m−2 averaged over the Arctic region but to a local gain of up to 0.8 W m−2 by the direct radiative effect of atmospheric BC plus the effect by the BC-in-snow albedo reduction. Long-range transport is identified as one of the main sources of uncertainties for ECHAM6.3-HAM2.3, leading to an overestimation of BC in atmospheric layers above 500 hPa, especially in summer. This is related to a misrepresentation in wet removal in one identified case at least, which was observed during the ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites) summer aircraft campaign. Overall, the current model version has significantly improved since previous intercomparison studies and now performs better than the multi-model average in the Aerosol Comparisons between Observation and Models (AEROCOM) initiative in terms of the spatial and temporal distribution of Arctic BC.

scholarly journals Impact of H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>/H<sub>2</sub>O coating and ice crystal size on radiative properties of sub-visible cirrus

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4659-4667 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Räisänen ◽  
A. Bogdan ◽  
K. Sassen ◽  
M. Kulmala ◽  
M. J. Molina
Keyword(s):  
Cirrus Clouds ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Ice Crystal ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Ice Particles ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Tropopause Region ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Ice Crystal Size ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Recent laboratory experiments showed that at conditions resembling those near the tropopause region, small ice particles can be coated by a liquid H2SO4/H2O over-layer formed after the freezing of diluted sulfuric acid/water aerosol drops. Here, idealized radiative transfer tests are conducted to evaluate the impact that such an over-layer would have on the radiative effects produced by sub-visible cirrus clouds (SVCs). Spherical particle shape is assumed to keep the problem tractable. The calculations show that the over-layer increases both the shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) cloud radiative effects (CRE), but the impact is small: ~0.02 W m−2, or even less, for the total (LW+SW) CRE at the top of the atmosphere. For the smallest ice particles, for which the over-layer is thickest, the fractional change in CRE can, however, reach ~20% for the SW CRE and over 50% for the LW CRE. The dependence of LW and SW CRE on particle size is also studied in the paper. Calculations for spherical and spheroidal uncoated ice particles show that even for high, optically thin cirrus, the total CRE can be negative, if the diameter of the particles is smaller than about 3–4 μm. Apart from the SVCs, this result could be relevant for contrail cirrus clouds, which are believed to consist of large numbers of very small ice particles.

scholarly journals Impact of H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>/H<sub>2</sub>O coating and ice crystal size on radiative properties of sub-visible cirrus

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 5231-5250
Author(s):  
P. Räisänen ◽  
A. Bogdan ◽  
K. Sassen ◽  
M. Kulmala ◽  
M. J. Molina
Keyword(s):  
Cirrus Clouds ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Ice Crystal ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Ice Particles ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Tropopause Region ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Ice Crystal Size ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Recent laboratory experiments showed that at conditions resembling those near the tropopause region, small quasi-spherical ice particles can be coated by a liquid H2SO4/H2O over-layer formed after the freezing of diluted sulfuric acid/water aerosol drops. Here, idealized radiative transfer tests are conducted to evaluate the impact that such an over-layer would have on the radiative effects produced by sub-visible cirrus clouds (SVCs). The calculations show that the over-layer increases both the shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) cloud radiative effects (CRE), but the impact is small: ~0.02 W m-2, or even less, for the total (LW+SW) CRE at the top of the atmosphere. For the smallest ice particles, for which the over-layer is thickest, the fractional change in CRE can, however, reach ~20% for the SW CRE and over 50% for the LW CRE. The dependence of LW and SW CRE on particle size is also considered in the paper. Calculations for spherical uncoated ice particles show that even for high, optically thin cirrus clouds, the total CRE can be negative, if the diameter of the particles is smaller than about 3–4 µm. Apart from the SVCs, this result could be relevant for contrail cirrus clouds, which are believed to consist of large numbers of very small ice particles.

Regional and Seasonal Influence of Cloud Radiative Effects on CMIP6 Model Climate Sensitivity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bithi De ◽  
George Tselioudis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Seasonal Influence ◽  
Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
The Relationship

&lt;p&gt;Recent analyses of Coupled Model&amp;#160;Intercomparison&amp;#160;Project phase 6&amp;#160;(CMIP6)&amp;#160;models&amp;#160;have shown&amp;#160;higher&amp;#160;climate sensitivities than&amp;#160;previously reported,&amp;#160;and this&amp;#160;increase&amp;#160;has been preliminary attributed to&amp;#160;the simulation of anomalous Shortwave&amp;#160;Cloud Radiative Effect (SWCRE)&amp;#160;over the southern midlatitude regions. In this work, we further&amp;#160;explore how the seasonal and annual SWCRE over different regions of the globe influence the model climate sensitivities. Our study suggests a significant contribution of SWCRE on climate sensitivities in both northern and southern midlatitudes; and the relationship remains robust across the seasons. Additionally, we assess the underlying physics of the inter-model spread to diagnose model biases.&amp;#160;The results will contribute to quantify the severity of the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity, as simulated by the CMIP6 models.&lt;/p&gt;

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document