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Title: Satellite estimates of precipitation susceptibility in low-level marine stratiform clouds

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences; Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Science
  2. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States). Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison
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Quantifying the sensitivity of warm rain to aerosols is important for constraining climate model estimates of aerosol indirect effects. In this study, the precipitation sensitivity to cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) in satellite retrievals is quantified by applying the precipitation susceptibility metric to a combined CloudSat/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data set of stratus and stratocumulus clouds that cover the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. We note that consistent with previous observational studies of marine stratocumulus, precipitation susceptibility decreases with increasing liquid water path (LWP), and the susceptibility of the mean precipitation rate R is nearly equal to the sum of the susceptibilities of precipitation intensity and of probability of precipitation. Consistent with previous modeling studies, the satellite retrievals reveal that precipitation susceptibility varies not only with LWP but also with Nd. Puzzlingly, negative values of precipitation susceptibility are found at low LWP and high Nd. There is marked regional variation in precipitation susceptibility values that cannot simply be explained by regional variations in LWP and Nd. This suggests other controls on precipitation apart from LWP and Nd and that precipitation susceptibility will need to be quantified and understood at the regional scale when relating to its role in controlling possible aerosol-induced cloud lifetime effects.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1262165
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-667061
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 120; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (4)

The source of discrepancies in aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions between GCM and A-Train retrievals journal January 2016
The importance of comprehensive parameter sampling and multiple observations for robust constraint of aerosol radiative forcing journal January 2018
Estimating precipitation susceptibility in warm marine clouds using multi-sensor aerosol and cloud products from A-Train satellites journal January 2018
Incorporation of inline warm rain diagnostics into the COSP2 satellite simulator for process-oriented model evaluation journal January 2019

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