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Title: Sensitivity study of cloud parameterizations with relative dispersion in CAM5.1: impacts on aerosol indirect effects

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xian (China). Inst. of Earth Environment
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Atmospheric Physics
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xian (China). Inst. of Earth Environment; Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  4. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Center for Earth System Science and Joint Center for Global Change Studies (JCGCS)
  5. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Environmental and Climate Sciences Dept.
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Aerosol-induced increase of relative dispersion of cloud droplet size distribution ε exerts a warming effect and partly offsets the cooling of aerosol indirect radiative forcing (AIF) associated with increased droplet concentration by increasing the cloud droplet effective radius (Re) and enhancing the cloud-to-rain autoconversion rate (Au) (labeled aBut, the total dispersion effects on both Re and Au are not fully considered in most GCMs, especially in different versions of the Community Atmospheric Model (CAM). Furthermore, in order to accurately evaluate the dispersion effect on AIF, the new complete cloud parameterizations of Re and Au explicitly accounting for ε are implemented into the CAM version 5.1 (CAM5.1), and a suite of sensitivity experiments is conducted with different representations of ε reported in the literature. It is shown that the shortwave cloud radiative forcing is much better simulated with the new cloud parameterizations as compared to the standard scheme in CAM5.1, whereas the influences on longwave cloud radiative forcing and surface precipitation are minimal. In addition, consideration of the dispersion effect can significantly reduce the changes induced by anthropogenic aerosols in the cloud-top effective radius and the liquid water path, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. The corresponding AIF with the dispersion effect considered can also be reduced substantially by a range of 0.10 to 0.21 W m-2 at the global scale and by a much bigger margin of 0.25 to 0.39 W m-2 for the Northern Hemisphere in comparison with that of fixed relative dispersion, mainly dependent on the change of relative dispersion and droplet concentrations (Δε/ΔN).

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1366351
Report Number(s):
BNL-113985-2017-JA; R&D Project: 2016-BNL-EE630EECA-Budg; KP1701000
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Vol. 17, Issue 9; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Remote Sensing of Droplet Number Concentration in Warm Clouds: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge and Perspectives journal June 2018
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