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Height Dependency of Aerosol-Cloud Interaction Regimes: Height Dependency of ACI Regime

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027431· OSTI ID:1424974
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
  2. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  3. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences (ICCES), Inst. of Atmospheric Physics
  4. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Ministry of Education Key Lab. for Earth System Modeling and Dept. of Earth System Science
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This study investigates the height dependency of aerosol-cloud interaction regimes in terms of the joint dependence of the key cloud microphysical properties (e.g. cloud droplet number concentration, cloud droplet relative dispersion, etc.) on aerosol number concentration (Na) and vertical velocity (w). The three distinct regimes with different microphysical features are the aerosol-limited regime, the updraft-limited regime, and the transitional regime. The results reveal two new phenomena in updraft-limited regime: 1) The “condensational broadening” of cloud droplet size distribution in contrast to the well-known “condensational narrowing” in the aerosol-limited regime; 2) Above the level of maximum supersaturation, some cloud droplets are deactivated into interstitial aerosols in the updraft-limited regime whereas all droplets remain activated in the aerosol-limited regime. Further analysis shows that the particle equilibrium supersaturation plays important role in understanding these unique features. Also examined is the height of warm rain initiation and its dependence on Na and w. The rain initiation height is found to depend primarily on either Na or w or both in different Na-w regimes, thus suggesting a strong regime dependence of the second aerosol indirect effect.
Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23); National Basic Research Program of China; Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NNSFC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1424974
Report Number(s):
BNL-200006-2018-JAAM
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 123; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cloud droplet size distribution broadening during diffusional growth: ripening amplified by deactivation and reactivation journal January 2018
Quantifying variations in shortwave aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions using local meteorology and cloud state constraints journal January 2019
Incorporation of inline warm rain diagnostics into the COSP2 satellite simulator for process-oriented model evaluation journal January 2019

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