Ice nucleation by aerosols from anthropogenic pollution

Zhao, Bin; Wang, Yuan; Gu, Yu; Liou, K N.; Jiang, Jonathan; Fan, Jiwen; Liu, Xiaohong; Huang, Lei; Yung, Yuk

doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0389-4

Ice nucleation by aerosols from anthropogenic pollution

Journal Article · 01 August 2019 · Nature Geoscience

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0389-4· OSTI ID:1558363

Zhao, Bin ^[1]; Wang, Yuan ^[2]; Gu, Yu ^[3]; Liou, K N. ^[1]; Jiang, Jonathan ^[4]; Fan, Jiwen ^[5]; Liu, Xiaohong ^[6]; Huang, Lei ^[7]; Yung, Yuk ^[2]

University of California, Los Angeles
California Institute of Technology
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
University of Wyoming
Jet propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

Formation of ice particles in the atmosphere strongly affects cloud properties and Earth’s climate. While mineral dust has been known as an effective ice nucleating particle, the role of aerosols from anthropogenic pollution in ice nucleation is still under debate. Here we probe the ice nucleation ability of different aerosol types by combining 11-year observations from multiple satellites and cloud-resolving model simulations. We find that, for strong convective systems, ice particle effective radius near the cloud top decreases with increasing loading of polluted continental aerosols, because the ice formation is dominated by homogeneous freezing of cloud droplets that are smaller under more polluted conditions. In contrast, an increase in ice particle effective radius with polluted continental aerosols is found under moderate convection. Our simulations suggest that enhanced heterogeneous ice nucleation and prolonged ice particle growth are key to explaining the positive correlation. The results indicate that polluted continental aerosols contain a significant fraction of ice nucleating particles triggering heterogeneous nucleation. Similar aerosol-ice relationships are observed for dust aerosols, further corroborating the ice nucleation ability of polluted continental aerosols. By catalyzing ice formation, aerosols from anthropogenic pollution can have profound impacts on cloud lifetime and radiative effect as well as precipitation efficiency.

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1558363

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-143283

Journal Information:: Nature Geoscience, Vol. 12, Issue 8

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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