scholarly journals A long-term study of aerosol–cloud interactions and their radiative effect at the Southern Great Plains using ground-based measurements

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
pp. 11301-11318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa T. Sena ◽  
Allison McComiskey ◽  
Graham Feingold
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

Abstract. Empirical estimates of the microphysical response of cloud droplet size distribution to aerosol perturbations are commonly used to constrain aerosol–cloud interactions in climate models. Instead of empirical microphysical estimates, here macroscopic variables are analyzed to address the influence of aerosol particles and meteorological descriptors on instantaneous cloud albedo and the radiative effect of shallow liquid water clouds. Long-term ground-based measurements from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program over the Southern Great Plains are used. A broad statistical analysis was performed on 14 years of coincident measurements of low clouds, aerosol, and meteorological properties. Two cases representing conflicting results regarding the relationship between the aerosol and the cloud radiative effect were selected and studied in greater detail. Microphysical estimates are shown to be very uncertain and to depend strongly on the methodology, retrieval technique and averaging scale. For this continental site, the results indicate that the influence of the aerosol on the shallow cloud radiative effect and albedo is weak and that macroscopic cloud properties and dynamics play a much larger role in determining the instantaneous cloud radiative effect compared to microphysical effects. On a daily basis, aerosol shows no correlation with cloud radiative properties (correlation = −0.01 ± 0.03), whereas the liquid water path shows a clear signal (correlation = 0.56 ± 0.02).

scholarly journals A long-term study of aerosol–cloud interactions and their radiative effect at a mid latitude continental site using ground-based measurements

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa T. Sena ◽  
Allison McComiskey ◽  
Graham Feingold
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Droplet Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

Abstract. Empirical estimates of the microphysical response of cloud droplet size distribution to aerosol perturbations are commonly used to constrain aerosol–cloud interactions in climate models. Instead of empirical microphysical estimates, here macroscopic variables are analyzed to address the influences of aerosol particles and meteorological descriptors on instantaneous cloud albedo and radiative effect of shallow liquid water clouds. Long-term ground-based measurements from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program over the Southern Great Plains are used. A broad statistical analysis was performed on 14-years of coincident measurements of low clouds, aerosol and meteorological properties. Two cases representing conflicting results regarding the relationship between the aerosol and the cloud radiative effect were selected and studied in greater detail. Microphysical estimates are shown to be very uncertain and to depend strongly on the methodology, retrieval technique, and averaging scale. For this continental site, the results indicate that the influence of aerosol on shallow cloud radiative effect and albedo is weak and that macroscopic cloud properties and dynamics play a much larger role in determining the instantaneous cloud radiative effect compared to microphysical effects.

scholarly journals Investigation of aerosol–cloud interactions under different absorptive aerosol regimes using Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) southern Great Plains (SGP) ground-based measurements

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 3483-3501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojian Zheng ◽  
Baike Xi ◽  
Xiquan Dong ◽  
Timothy Logan ◽  
Yuan Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Atmospheric Radiation ◽  
Strong Light ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Atmospheric Radiation Measurement ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions ◽  
Absorbing Aerosols

Abstract. The aerosol indirect effect on cloud microphysical and radiative properties is one of the largest uncertainties in climate simulations. In order to investigate the aerosol–cloud interactions, a total of 16 low-level stratus cloud cases under daytime coupled boundary-layer conditions are selected over the southern Great Plains (SGP) region of the United States. The physicochemical properties of aerosols and their impacts on cloud microphysical properties are examined using data collected from the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility at the SGP site. The aerosol–cloud interaction index (ACIr) is used to quantify the aerosol impacts with respect to cloud-droplet effective radius. The mean value of ACIr calculated from all selected samples is 0.145±0.05 and ranges from 0.09 to 0.24 at a range of cloud liquid water paths (LWPs; LWP=20–300 g m−2). The magnitude of ACIr decreases with an increasing LWP, which suggests a diminished cloud microphysical response to aerosol loading, presumably due to enhanced condensational growth processes and enlarged particle sizes. The impact of aerosols with different light-absorbing abilities on the sensitivity of cloud microphysical responses is also investigated. In the presence of weak light-absorbing aerosols, the low-level clouds feature a higher number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (NCCN) and smaller effective radii (re), while the opposite is true for strong light-absorbing aerosols. Furthermore, the mean activation ratio of aerosols to CCN (NCCN∕Na) for weakly (strongly) absorbing aerosols is 0.54 (0.45), owing to the aerosol microphysical effects, particularly the different aerosol compositions inferred by their absorptive properties. In terms of the sensitivity of cloud-droplet number concentration (Nd) to NCCN, the fraction of CCN that converted to cloud droplets (Nd∕NCCN) for the weakly (strongly) absorptive regime is 0.69 (0.54). The measured ACIr values in the weakly absorptive regime are relatively higher, indicating that clouds have greater microphysical responses to aerosols, owing to the favorable thermodynamic condition. The reduced ACIr values in the strongly absorptive regime are due to the cloud-layer heating effect induced by strong light-absorbing aerosols. Consequently, we expect larger shortwave radiative cooling effects from clouds in the weakly absorptive regime than those in the strongly absorptive regime.

scholarly journals New approaches to quantifying aerosol influence on the cloud radiative effect

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (21) ◽  
pp. 5812-5819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Feingold ◽  
Allison McComiskey ◽  
Takanobu Yamaguchi ◽  
Jill S. Johnson ◽  
Kenneth S. Carslaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Composition ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

The topic of cloud radiative forcing associated with the atmospheric aerosol has been the focus of intense scrutiny for decades. The enormity of the problem is reflected in the need to understand aspects such as aerosol composition, optical properties, cloud condensation, and ice nucleation potential, along with the global distribution of these properties, controlled by emissions, transport, transformation, and sinks. Equally daunting is that clouds themselves are complex, turbulent, microphysical entities and, by their very nature, ephemeral and hard to predict. Atmospheric general circulation models represent aerosol−cloud interactions at ever-increasing levels of detail, but these models lack the resolution to represent clouds and aerosol−cloud interactions adequately. There is a dearth of observational constraints on aerosol−cloud interactions. We develop a conceptual approach to systematically constrain the aerosol−cloud radiative effect in shallow clouds through a combination of routine process modeling and satellite and surface-based shortwave radiation measurements. We heed the call to merge Darwinian and Newtonian strategies by balancing microphysical detail with scaling and emergent properties of the aerosol−cloud radiation system.

scholarly journals Quantifying variations in shortwave aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions using local meteorology and cloud state constraints

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 6251-6268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyson Douglas ◽  
Tristan L'Ecuyer
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Water Path ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Local Meteorology ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions ◽  
Sizable Number ◽  
Thermodynamic Processes

Abstract. While many studies have tried to quantify the sign and the magnitude of the warm marine cloud response to aerosol loading, both remain uncertain, owing to the multitude of factors that modulate microphysical and thermodynamic processes within the cloud. Constraining aerosol–cloud interactions using the local meteorology and cloud liquid water may offer a way to account for covarying influences, potentially increasing our confidence in observational estimates of warm cloud indirect effects. A total of 4 years of collocated satellite observations from the NASA A-Train constellation, combined with reanalysis from MERRA-2, are used to partition marine warm clouds into regimes based on stability, the free atmospheric relative humidity, and liquid water path. Organizing the sizable number of satellite observations into regimes is shown to minimize the covariance between the environment or liquid water path and the indirect effect. Controlling for local meteorology and cloud state mitigates artificial signals and reveals substantial variance in both the sign and magnitude of the cloud radiative response, including regions where clouds become systematically darker with increased aerosol concentration in dry, unstable environments. A darkening effect is evident even under the most stringent of constraints. These results suggest it is not meaningful to report a single global sensitivity of cloud radiative effect to aerosol. To the contrary, we find the sensitivity can range from −0.46 to 0.11 Wm−2 ln(AI)−1 regionally.

scholarly journals Understanding Aerosol-Cloud-Radiation Interactions Using Local Meteorology and Cloud State Constraints

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alyson Douglas ◽  
Tristan L'Ecuyer
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Water Path ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Warm Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Local Meteorology ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions ◽  
Sizable Number

Abstract. While many studies have tried to quantify the sign and the magnitude of the warm cloud response to aerosol loading, both remain uncertain owing to the multitude of factors that modulate microphysical and thermodynamic processes within the cloud. Constraining aerosol-cloud interactions using the local meteorology and cloud liquid water may offer a way to account for covarying influences, potentially increasing our confidence in observational estimates of warm cloud indirect effects. Four years of collocated satellite observations from the NASA A-Train constellation, combined with reanalaysis from MERRA-2, are used to partition warm clouds into regimes based on stability, the free atmospheric relative humidity, and liquid water path. Organizing the sizable number of satellite observations into regimes is shown to minimize the covariance between the environment or liquid water path and the indirect effect. Controlling for local meteorology and cloud state mitigates artificial signals and reveals substantial variance in both the sign and magnitude of the cloud radiative response, including regions where clouds become systematically darker with increased aerosol concentration in dry, unstable environments. The reverse Twomey effect, as it has been called, is evident even under the most stringent of constraints, confirming it is not an artificial signal or an isolated phenomenon. These results suggest it is not meaningful to report a single global sensitivity of cloud radiative effect to aerosol. To the contrary, we find the sensitivity can range from −.46 to .11 W m−2ln(AI) regionally.

Apportionment of the present-day forcing by methane using UKESM1: The role of chemistry-aerosol-cloud interactions 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona O'Connor ◽  
Omar Jamil ◽  
Timothy Andrews ◽  
Ben Johnson ◽  
Jane Mulcahy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Aerosol Size Distribution ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Model Estimate ◽  
Aerosol Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Aerosol Cloud Interactions

<p>The pre-industrial (PI; Year 1850) to present-day (PD; Year 2014) increase in methane concentration leads to a global mean effective radiative forcing (ERF) of 0.97 ± 0.04 W m<sup>-2</sup> in the UK’s Earth System Model, UKESM1. In comparison with the multi-model estimate of 0.75 ± 0.10 W m<sup>-2 </sup>from the Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP), UKESM1 has the highest methane ERF and lies outside the 1-sigma range. This is, in part, due to UKESM1 including interactive chemistry and positive indirect effects, such as methane-driven changes in tropospheric ozone. However, UKESM1 is the only model within AerChemMIP whose contribution to the methane ERF from tropospheric adjustments is positive – this is largely driven by the strong positive cloud adjustment in UKESM1, in contrast to other models. In this work, we apportion the total methane ERF between direct and indirect effects (including adjustments) and provide a process-based understanding of what is driving the positive cloud adjustment in UKESM1.</p><p>Using additional UKESM1 paired simulations, we apportion the total methane ERF between its direct methane contribution and indirect contributions from ozone, water vapour, and aerosols. This approach offers the advantage that linearity is not assumed and it distinguishes between cloud effects that are dynamically-driven via changes in temperature and those that are aerosol-mediated. By analysing the chemistry-aerosol budgets and the cloud responses, we find that the PI to PD increase in methane leads to an indirect positive aerosol ERF of up to 0.3 ± 0.06 W m<sup>-2</sup>, with a near-zero contribution from the instantaneous radiative forcing from aerosol-radiation interactions. Methane-driven changes in oxidants alter the relative contributions of the different sulphur dioxide oxidation pathways, causing a change in new particle formation rates and a shift in the aerosol size distribution towards fewer but larger particles. There is a resulting decrease in cloud droplet number concentration, an increase in cloud droplet effective radius, and a decrease in liquid water path in marine stratocumulus regions from aerosol-cloud interactions (mainly through the cloud lifetime effect). There is a subsequent change in the cloud radiative effect, with the positive change in the shortwave dominating over the negative change in the longwave. However, when aerosol-cloud interactions are disabled, the change in the cloud radiative effect is negative and is dominated by the reduction of cirrus clouds in the tropics, thus making UKESM1 more consistent with the other AerChemMIP models.</p><p>These results can explain some of the diversity in multi-model estimates of methane forcing and highlight the importance of chemistry-aerosol-cloud interactions when quantifying climate forcing by reactive greenhouse gases.</p>

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