Process Modeling of Aerosol‐Cloud Interaction in Summertime Precipitating Shallow Cumulus Over the Western North Atlantic
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- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland WA USA
- Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt (DLR) and Institute for Physics of the Atmosphere Johannes Gutenberg‐University Mainz Mainz Germany
- NASA Langley Research Center Hampton VA USA, Analytical Mechanics Associates Hampton VA USA
- NASA Langley Research Center Hampton VA USA
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- University of Arizona James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences Tucson AZ USA
- Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA, Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences University of Arizona Tucson AZ USA
- NASA Langley Research Center Hampton VA USA, Coherent Applications, Inc. Hampton VA USA
- NASA Langley Research Center Hampton VA USA, NASA Postdoctoral Program NASA Langley Research Center Hampton VA USA
- NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies New York NY USA
Abstract Process modeling of Aerosol‐cloud interaction (ACI) is essential to bridging gaps between observational analysis and climate modeling of aerosol effects in the Earth system and eventually reducing climate projection uncertainties. In this study, we examine ACI in summertime precipitating shallow cumuli observed during the Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE). Aerosols and precipitating shallow cumuli were extensively observed with in‐situ and remote‐sensing instruments during two research flight cases on 02 June and 07 June, respectively, during the ACTIVATE summer 2021 deployment phase. We perform observational analysis and large‐eddy simulation (LES) of aerosol effect on precipitating cumulus in these two cases. Given the measured aerosol size distributions and meteorological conditions, LES is able to reproduce the observed cloud properties by aircraft such as liquid water content (LWC), cloud droplet number concentration ( N c ) and effective radius r eff . However, it produces smaller liquid water path (LWP) and larger N c compared to the satellite retrievals. Both 02 and 07 June cases are over warm waters of the Gulf Stream and have a cloud top height over 3 km, but the 07 June case is more polluted and has larger LWC. We find that the N a ‐induced LWP adjustment is dominated by precipitation feedback for the 2 June precipitating case and there is no clear entrainment feedback in both cases. An increase of cloud fraction due to a decrease of aerosol number concentration is also shown in the simulations for the 02 June case.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 2328649
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 2336733; OSTI ID: 2337561
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-186592; e2023JD039489
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres Vol. 129 Journal Issue: 7; ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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