Vertical structure of biomass burning aerosol transported over the southeast Atlantic Ocean

Abstract. Biomass burning in southwestern Africa produces smoke plumes that are transported over the Atlantic Ocean and overlie vast regions of stratocumulus clouds. This aerosol layer contributes to direct and indirect radiative forcing of the atmosphere in this region, particularly during the months of August, September and October. There was a multi-year international campaign to study this aerosol and its interactions with clouds. Here we report on the evolution of aerosol distributions and properties as measured by the airborne high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) during the ORACLES (Observations of Aerosols above Clouds and their intEractionS) campaign in September 2016. The NASA Langley HSRL-2 instrument was flown on the NASA ER-2 aircraft for several days in September 2016. Data were aggregated at two pairs of 2° × 2° grid boxes to examine the evolution of the vertical profile of aerosol properties during transport over the ocean. Results showed that the structure of the profile of aerosol extinction and microphysical properties is maintained over a one to two-day time scale. The fraction of aerosol in the fine mode between 50 and 500 nm remained above 0.95 and the effective radius of this fine mode was 0.16 μm from 3 to 5 km in altitude. This indicates that there is essentially no scavenging or dry deposition at these altitudes. Moreover, there is very little day to day variation in these properties, such that time sampling as happens in such campaigns, may be representative of longer periods such as monthly means. Below 3 km there is considerable mixing with larger aerosol, most likely continental source near land. Furthermore, these measurements indicated that there was a distinct gap between the bottom of the aerosol layer and cloud tops at the selected locations as evidenced by a layer of several hundred meters that contained relatively low aerosol extinction values above the clouds.

Download Full-text

Retrieval of aerosol microphysical and optical properties above liquid clouds from POLDER/PARASOL polarization measurements

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-6-991-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 991-1016 ◽

Cited By ~ 69

Author(s):

F. Waquet ◽

C. Cornet ◽

J.-L. Deuzé ◽

O. Dubovik ◽

F. Ducos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biomass Burning ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Mineral Dust ◽

Spherical Particles ◽

Dust Particles ◽

Polarization Measurements ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Coarse Mode ◽

Fine Mode ◽

Aerosol Properties

Abstract. Most of the current aerosol retrievals from passive sensors are restricted to cloud-free scenes, which strongly reduces our ability to monitor the aerosol properties at a global scale and to estimate their radiative forcing. The presence of aerosol above clouds (AAC) affects the polarized light reflected by the cloud layer, as shown by the spaceborne measurements provided by the POlarization and Directionality of Earth Reflectances (POLDER) instrument on the PARASOL satellite. In a previous work, a first retrieval method was developed for AAC scenes and evaluated for biomass-burning aerosols transported over stratocumulus clouds. The method was restricted to the use of observations acquired at forward scattering angles (90–120°) where polarized measurements are highly sensitive to fine-mode particle scattering. Non-spherical particles in the coarse mode, such as mineral dust particles, do not much polarize light and cannot be handled with this method. In this paper, we present new developments that allow retrieving also the properties of mineral dust particles above clouds. These particles do not much polarize light but strongly reduce the polarized cloud bow generated by the liquid cloud layer beneath and observed for scattering angles around 140°. The spectral attenuation can be used to qualitatively identify the nature of the particles (i.e. accumulation mode versus coarse mode, i.e. mineral dust particles versus biomass-burning aerosols), whereas the magnitude of the attenuation is related to the optical thickness of the aerosol layer. We also use the polarized measurements acquired in the cloud bow to improve the retrieval of both the biomass-burning aerosol properties and the cloud microphysical properties. We provide accurate polarized radiance calculations for AAC scenes and evaluate the contribution of the POLDER polarization measurements for the simultaneous retrieval of the aerosol and cloud properties. We investigate various scenes with mineral dust particles and biomass-burning aerosols above clouds. For clouds, our results confirm that the droplet size distribution is narrow in high-latitude ocean regions and that the droplet effective radii retrieved from both polarization measurements and from total radiance measurements are generally close for AAC scenes (departures smaller than 2 μm). We found that the magnitude of the primary cloud bow cannot be accurately estimated with a plane parallel transfer radiative code. The errors for the modeling of the polarized cloud bow are between 4 and 8% for homogenous cloudy scenes, as shown by a 3-D radiative transfer code. These effects only weakly impact the retrieval of the Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) performed with a mineral dust particle model for which the microphysical properties are entirely known (relative error smaller than 6%). We show that the POLDER polarization measurements allow retrieving the AOT, the fine-mode particle size, the Ångström exponent and the fraction of spherical particles. However, the complex refractive index and the coarse-mode particle size cannot be accurately retrieved with the present polarization measurements. Our complete and accurate algorithm cannot be applied to process large amounts of data, so a simpler algorithm was developed to retrieve the AOT and the Ångström exponent above clouds in an operational way. Illustrations are provided for July–August 2008 near the African coast. Large mean AOTs above clouds at 0.865 μm (>0.3) are retrieved for oceanic regions near the coasts of South Africa that correspond to biomass-burning aerosols, whereas even larger mean AOTs above clouds for mineral dust particles (>0.6) are also retrieved near the coasts of Senegal. For these regions and time period, the direct AAC radiative forcing is likely to be significant. The final aim of this work is the global monitoring of the AAC properties and the estimation of the direct aerosol radiative forcing in cloudy scenes.

Download Full-text

Impact of the Variability in Vertical Separation between Biomass-Burning Aerosols and Marine Stratocumulus on Cloud Microphysical Properties over the Southeast Atlantic

10.5194/acp-2020-1039 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Siddhant Gupta ◽

Greg M. McFarquhar ◽

Joseph R. O'Brien ◽

David J. Delene ◽

Michael R. Poellot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biomass Burning ◽

Cloud Droplet ◽

Liquid Water Content ◽

Droplet Evaporation ◽

Cloud Layer ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Marine Stratocumulus ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Cloud Tops ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Marine stratocumulus cloud properties over the southeast Atlantic Ocean are impacted by contact between above-cloud biomass-burning aerosols and cloud tops. Different vertical separations (0 to 2000 m) between the aerosol layer and cloud tops were observed on six research flights in September 2016 during the NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign. There were 30 contact profiles where the aerosol layer with aerosol concentration (Na) > 500 cm−3 was within 100 m of cloud tops, and 41 separated profiles where the aerosol layer with Na > 500 cm−3 was located more than 100 m above cloud tops. For contact profiles, the average cloud droplet concentration (Nc) in the cloud layer was up to 68 cm−3 higher, the effective radius (Re) up to 1.3 µm lower and the liquid water content (LWC) within 0.01 g m−3 compared to separated profiles. Free tropospheric humidity was higher in the presence of biomass-burning aerosols and contact profiles had a smaller decrease in humidity (and positive buoyancy) across cloud tops due to higher median above-cloud Na (895 cm−3) compared to separated profiles (30 cm−3). Due to droplet evaporation from entrainment mixing of warm, dry free tropospheric air into the clouds, the median Nc and LWC for contact profiles decreased with height by 21 % and 9 % in the top 20 % of the cloud layer. The impact of droplet evaporation was stronger during separated profiles as a greater decrease in humidity (and negative buoyancy) across cloud tops led to greater decreases in median Nc (30 %) and LWC (16 %) near cloud tops. Below-cloud Na was sampled during 61 profiles, and most contact profiles (20 out of 28) were within high-Na (> 350 cm−3) boundary layers while most separated profiles (22 out of 33) were within low-Na (

Download Full-text

Biomass smoke from southern Africa can significantly enhance the brightness of stratocumulus over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1713703115 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 115 (12) ◽

pp. 2924-2929 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Zheng Lu ◽

Xiaohong Liu ◽

Zhibo Zhang ◽

Chun Zhao ◽

Kerry Meyer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atlantic Ocean ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Global Climate Models ◽

Radiative Effect ◽

Marine Stratocumulus ◽

Radiative Balance ◽

Stratocumulus Clouds ◽

Southeastern Atlantic

Marine stratocumulus clouds cover nearly one-quarter of the ocean surface and thus play an extremely important role in determining the global radiative balance. The semipermanent marine stratocumulus deck over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean is of particular interest, because of its interactions with seasonal biomass burning aerosols that are emitted in southern Africa. Understanding the impacts of biomass burning aerosols on stratocumulus clouds and the implications for regional and global radiative balance is still very limited. Previous studies have focused on assessing the magnitude of the warming caused by solar scattering and absorption by biomass burning aerosols over stratocumulus (the direct radiative effect) or cloud adjustments to the direct radiative effect (the semidirect effect). Here, using a nested modeling approach in conjunction with observations from multiple satellites, we demonstrate that cloud condensation nuclei activated from biomass burning aerosols entrained into the stratocumulus (the microphysical effect) can play a dominant role in determining the total radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere, compared with their direct and semidirect radiative effects. Biomass burning aerosols over the region and period with heavy loadings can cause a substantial cooling (daily mean −8.05 W m−2), primarily as a result of clouds brightening by reducing the cloud droplet size (the Twomey effect) and secondarily through modulating the diurnal cycle of cloud liquid water path and coverage (the cloud lifetime effect). Our results highlight the importance of realistically representing the interactions of stratocumulus with biomass burning aerosols in global climate models in this region.

Download Full-text

Retrieval of aerosol microphysical properties from atmospheric lidar sounding: an investigation using synthetic measurements and data from the ACEPOL campaign

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-14-4755-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. 4755-4771

Author(s):

William G. K. McLean ◽

Guangliang Fu ◽

Sharon P. Burton ◽

Otto P. Hasekamp

Keyword(s):

Refractive Index ◽

Effective Radius ◽

High Spectral Resolution ◽

Imaginary Component ◽

The Real ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Lidar Measurements ◽

Fine Mode ◽

Truth Value ◽

Real Refractive Index

Abstract. This study presents an investigation of aerosol microphysical retrievals from high spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) measurements. Firstly, retrievals are presented for synthetically generated lidar measurements, followed by an application of the retrieval algorithm to real lidar measurements. Here, we perform the investigation for an aerosol state vector that is typically used in multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) retrievals, so that the results can be interpreted in relation to a potential combination of lidar and MAP measurements. These state vectors correspond to a bimodal size distribution, where column number, effective radius, and effective variance of both modes are treated as fit parameters, alongside the complex refractive index and particle shape. The focus is primarily on a lidar configuration based on that of the High Spectral Resolution Lidar-2 (HSRL-2), which participated in the ACEPOL (Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar) campaign, a combined project between NASA and SRON (Netherlands Institute for Space Research). The measurement campaign took place between October and November 2017, over the western region of the USA. Six different instruments were mounted on the aeroplane: four MAPs and two lidar instruments, HSRL-2 and the Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL). Most of the flights were carried out over land, passing over scenes with a low aerosol load. One of the flights passed over a prescribed forest fire in Arizona on 9 November, with a relatively higher aerosol optical depth (AOD), and it is the data from this flight that are focussed on in this study. A retrieval of the aerosol microphysical properties of the smoke plume mixture was attempted with the data from HSRL-2 and compared with a retrieval from the MAPs carried out in previous work pertaining to the ACEPOL data. The synthetic HSRL-2 retrievals resulted for the fine mode in a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.038 (0.025) µm for the effective radius (with a mean truth value of 0.195 µm), 0.052 (0.037) for the real refractive index, 0.010 (7.20×10-3) for the imaginary part of the refractive index, 0.109 (0.071) for the spherical fraction, and 0.054 (0.039) for the AOD at 532 nm, where the retrievals inside brackets indicate the MAE for noise-free retrievals. For the coarse mode, we find the MAE is 0.459 (0.254) µm for the effective radius (with a mean truth value of 1.970 µm), 0.085 (0.075) for the real refractive index, 2.06×10-4 (1.90×10-4) for the imaginary component, 0.120 (0.090) for the spherical fraction, and 0.051 (0.039) for the AOD. A study of the sensitivity of retrievals to the choice of prior and first guess showed that, on average, the retrieval errors increase when the prior deviates too much from the truth value. These experiments revealed that the measurements primarily contain information on the size and shape of the aerosol, along with the column number. Some information on the real component of the refractive index is also present, with the measurements providing little on absorption or on the effective variance of the aerosol distribution, as both of these were shown to depend heavily on the choice of prior. Retrievals using the HSRL-2 smoke-plume data yielded, for the fine mode, an effective radius of 0.107 µm, a real refractive index of 1.561, an imaginary component of refractive index of 0.010, a spherical fraction of 0.719, and an AOD at 532 nm of 0.505. Additionally, the single-scattering albedo (SSA) from the HSRL-2 retrievals was 0.940. Overall, these results are in good agreement with those from the Spectropolarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEX) and Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) retrievals.

Download Full-text

Particulate sulfur in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere – sources and climate forcing

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-17-10937-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (18) ◽

pp. 10937-10953 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bengt G. Martinsson ◽

Johan Friberg ◽

Oscar S. Sandvik ◽

Markus Hermann ◽

Peter F. J. van Velthoven ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Seasonal Variation ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Chemical Elements ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Stratospheric Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Pixe Analysis ◽

Upper Troposphere ◽

Particulate Sulfur ◽

Fine Mode

Abstract. This study is based on fine-mode aerosol samples collected in the upper troposphere (UT) and the lowermost stratosphere (LMS) of the Northern Hemisphere extratropics during monthly intercontinental flights at 8.8–12 km altitude of the IAGOS-CARIBIC platform in the time period 1999–2014. The samples were analyzed for a large number of chemical elements using the accelerator-based methods PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) and PESA (particle elastic scattering analysis). Here the particulate sulfur concentrations, obtained by PIXE analysis, are investigated. In addition, the satellite-borne lidar aboard CALIPSO is used to study the stratospheric aerosol load. A steep gradient in particulate sulfur concentration extends several kilometers into the LMS, as a result of increasing dilution towards the tropopause of stratospheric, particulate sulfur-rich air. The stratospheric air is diluted with tropospheric air, forming the extratropical transition layer (ExTL). Observed concentrations are related to the distance to the dynamical tropopause. A linear regression methodology handled seasonal variation and impact from volcanism. This was used to convert each data point into stand-alone estimates of a concentration profile and column concentration of particulate sulfur in a 3 km altitude band above the tropopause. We find distinct responses to volcanic eruptions, and that this layer in the LMS has a significant contribution to the stratospheric aerosol optical depth and thus to its radiative forcing. Further, the origin of UT particulate sulfur shows strong seasonal variation. We find that tropospheric sources dominate during the fall as a result of downward transport of the Asian tropopause aerosol layer (ATAL) formed in the Asian monsoon, whereas transport down from the Junge layer is the main source of UT particulate sulfur in the first half of the year. In this latter part of the year, the stratosphere is the clearly dominating source of particulate sulfur in the UT during times of volcanic influence and under background conditions.

Download Full-text

Low Cloud Cover Sensitivity to Biomass-Burning Aerosols and Meteorology over the Southeast Atlantic

Journal of Climate ◽

10.1175/jcli-d-17-0406.1 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 31 (11) ◽

pp. 4329-4346 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Adeyemi A. Adebiyi ◽

Paquita Zuidema

Keyword(s):

Biomass Burning ◽

Cloud Cover ◽

Longwave Radiation ◽

Cloud Fraction ◽

Specific Humidity ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Stratocumulus Clouds ◽

Low Cloud ◽

Low Cloud Cover ◽

Absorbing Aerosols

Abstract Shortwave-absorbing aerosols seasonally cover and interact with an expansive low-level cloud deck over the southeast Atlantic. Daily anomalies of the MODIS low cloud fraction, fine-mode aerosol optical depth (AODf), and six ERA-Interim meteorological parameters (lower-tropospheric stability, 800-hPa subsidence, 600-hPa specific humidity, 1000- and 800-hPa horizontal temperature advection, and 1000-hPa geopotential height) are constructed spanning July–October (2001–12). A standardized multiple linear regression, whereby the change in the low cloud fraction to each component’s variability is normalized by one standard deviation, facilitates comparison between the different variables. Most cloud–meteorology relationships follow expected behavior for stratocumulus clouds. Of interest is the low cloud–subsidence relationship, whereby increasing subsidence increases low cloud cover between 10° and 20°S but decreases it elsewhere. Increases in AODf increase cloudiness everywhere, independent of other meteorological predictors. The cloud–AODf effect is partially compensated by accompanying increases in the midtropospheric moisture, which is associated with decreases in low cloud cover. This suggests that the free-tropospheric moisture affects the low cloud deck primarily through longwave radiation rather than mixing. The low cloud cover is also more sensitive to aerosol when the vertical distance between the cloud and aerosol layer is relatively small, which is more likely to occur early in the biomass burning season and farther offshore. A parallel statistical analysis that does not include AODf finds altered relationships between the low cloud cover changes and meteorology that can be understood through the aerosol cross-correlations with the meteorological predictors. For example, the low cloud–stability relationship appears stronger if aerosols are not explicitly included.

Download Full-text

Influence of aerosol particles from biomass burning on cloud microphysical properties and radiative forcing

Atmospheric Research ◽

10.1016/j.atmosres.2005.10.010 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 82 (1-2) ◽

pp. 310-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

E. Cattani ◽

M.J. Costa ◽

F. Torricella ◽

V. Levizzani ◽

A.M. Silva

Keyword(s):

Biomass Burning ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Aerosol Particles ◽

Microphysical Properties

Download Full-text

Mid-level clouds are frequent above the southeast Atlantic stratocumulus clouds

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-20-11025-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (18) ◽

pp. 11025-11043

Author(s):

Adeyemi A. Adebiyi ◽

Paquita Zuidema ◽

Ian Chang ◽

Sharon P. Burton ◽

Brian Cairns

Keyword(s):

Cloud Droplet ◽

Droplet Size Distribution ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Cloud Optical Depth ◽

Low Level ◽

Cloud Properties ◽

Cloud Droplet Size Distribution ◽

Stratocumulus Clouds ◽

Absorbing Aerosols ◽

Cloud Tops

Abstract. Shortwave-absorbing aerosols seasonally overlay extensive low-level stratocumulus clouds over the southeast Atlantic. While much attention has focused on the interactions between the low-level clouds and the overlying aerosols, few studies have focused on the mid-level clouds that also occur over the region. The presence of mid-level clouds over the region complicates the space-based remote-sensing retrievals of cloud properties and the evaluation of cloud radiation budgets. Here we characterize the mid-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic using lidar- and radar-based satellite cloud retrievals and observations collected in September 2016 during the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) field campaign. We find that mid-level clouds over the southeast Atlantic are relatively common, with the majority of the clouds occurring between altitudes of 5 and 7 km and at temperatures between 0 and −20 ∘C. The mid-level clouds occur at the top of a moist mid-tropospheric smoke-aerosol layer, most frequently between August and October, and closer to the southern African coast than farther offshore. They occur more frequently during the night than during the day. Between July and October, approximately 64 % of the mid-level clouds had a geometric cloud thickness less than 1 km, corresponding to a cloud optical depth of less than 4. A lidar-based depolarization–backscatter relationship for September 2016 indicates that the mid-level clouds are liquid-only clouds with no evidence of the existence of ice. In addition, a polarimeter-derived cloud droplet size distribution indicates that approximately 85 % of the September 2016 mid-level clouds had an effective radius less than 7 µm, which could further discourage the ability of the clouds to glaciate. These clouds are mostly associated with synoptically modulated mid-tropospheric moisture outflow that can be linked to the detrainment from the continental-based clouds. Overall, the supercooled mid-level clouds reduce the radiative cooling rates of the underlying low-altitude cloud tops by approximately 10 K d−1, thus influencing the regional cloud radiative budget.

Download Full-text

Radiative Heating Rate Profiles over the Southeast Atlantic Ocean during the 2016 and 2017 Biomass Burning Seasons

10.5194/acp-2020-106 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Allison B. Marquardt Collow ◽

Mark A. Miller ◽

Lynne C. Trabachino ◽

Michael P. Jensen ◽

Meng Wang

Keyword(s):

Atlantic Ocean ◽

Heating Rate ◽

Biomass Burning ◽

Radiative Heating ◽

Aerosol Layer ◽

Field Campaign ◽

Cloud Structure ◽

Ascension Island ◽

Biomass Burning Aerosol ◽

Aerosol Plume

Abstract. Marine boundary layer clouds, including the transition from stratocumulus to cumulus, are poorly represented in numerical weather prediction and general circulation models. Further uncertainties in the cloud structure arise in the presence of biomass burning carbonaceous aerosol, as is the case over the southeast Atlantic Ocean where biomass burning aerosol is transported from the African continent. As the aerosol plume progresses across the southeast Atlantic Ocean, radiative heating within the aerosol layer has the potential to alter the thermodynamic environment and therefore the cloud structure; however, this has yet to be quantified. The deployment of the First Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility (AMF1) in support of the Layered Atlantic Smoke Interactions with Clouds (LASIC) field campaign provided a unique opportunity to collect observations of cloud and aerosol properties during two consecutive biomass burning seasons during July through October of 2016 and 2017 over Ascension Island (7.96 S, 14.35 W). Using observed profiles of temperature, humidity, and clouds from the LASIC field campaign, alongside aerosol optical properties from the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) as input for the Rapid Radiation Transfer Model (RRTM), profiles of the radiative heating rate due to aerosols and clouds were computed. Radiative heating is also assessed across the southeast Atlantic Ocean using an ensemble of back trajectories from the Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT). Idealized experiments using RRTM with and without aerosols and a range of values for the single scattering albedo demonstrate that shortwave (SW) heating within the aerosol layer above Ascension Island can locally range between 2 and 8 K per day, though impacts of the aerosol can be felt elsewhere in the atmospheric column. SW radiative heating due to biomass burning aerosol is not balanced by additional longwave cooling, and the net radiative impact results in a stabilization of the lower troposphere. However, these results are extremely sensitive to the single scatter albedo and the height of the aerosol plume with respect to the inversion layer.

Download Full-text

Observations and comparisons of cloud microphysical properties in spring and summertime Arctic stratocumulus clouds during the ACCACIA campaign

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-3719-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (7) ◽

pp. 3719-3737 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

G. Lloyd ◽

T. W. Choularton ◽

K. N. Bower ◽

J. Crosier ◽

H. Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

The Arctic ◽

Ice Crystal ◽

Microphysical Properties ◽

Prediction Scheme ◽

Stratocumulus Clouds ◽

Order Of Magnitude ◽

Climate Interactions ◽

Ice Production ◽

Cloud Tops ◽

Summer Time

Abstract. Measurements from four case studies in spring and summer-time Arctic stratocumulus clouds during the Aerosol-Cloud Coupling And Climate Interactions in the Arctic (ACCACIA) campaign are presented. We compare microphysics observations between cases and with previous measurements made in the Arctic and Antarctic. During ACCACIA, stratocumulus clouds were observed to consist of liquid at cloud tops, often at distinct temperature inversions. The cloud top regions precipitated low concentrations of ice into the cloud below. During the spring cases median ice number concentrations (~ 0.5 L−1) were found to be lower by about a factor of 5 than observations from the summer campaign (~ 3 L−1). Cloud layers in the summer spanned a warmer temperature regime than in the spring and enhancement of ice concentrations in these cases was found to be due to secondary ice production through the Hallett–Mossop (H–M) process. Aerosol concentrations during spring ranged from ~ 300–400 cm−3 in one case to lower values of ~ 50–100 cm−3 in the other. The concentration of aerosol with sizes Dp > 0.5 μm was used in a primary ice nucleus (IN) prediction scheme (DeMott et al., 2010). Predicted IN values varied depending on aerosol measurement periods but were generally greater than maximum observed median values of ice crystal concentrations in the spring cases, and less than the observed ice concentrations in the summer due to the influence of secondary ice production. Comparison with recent cloud observations in the Antarctic summer (Grosvenor et al., 2012), reveals lower ice concentrations in Antarctic clouds in comparable seasons. An enhancement of ice crystal number concentrations (when compared with predicted IN numbers) was also found in Antarctic stratocumulus clouds spanning the H–M temperature zone; however, concentrations were about an order of magnitude lower than those observed in the Arctic summer cases but were similar to the peak values observed in the colder Arctic spring cases, where the H–M mechanism did not operate.

Download Full-text