Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM
Abstract
Observation-based studies have shown that the aerosol cloud lifetime effect or the increase of cloud liquid water path (LWP) with increased aerosol loading may have been overestimated in climate models. Here, we simulate shallow warm clouds on 27 May 2011 at the southern Great Plains (SGP) measurement site established by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program using a single-column version of a global climate model (Community Atmosphere Model or CAM) and a cloud resolving model (CRM). The LWP simulated by CAM increases substantially with aerosol loading while that in the CRM does not. The increase of LWP in CAM is caused by a large decrease of the autoconversion rate when cloud droplet number increases. In the CRM, the autoconversion rate is also reduced, but this is offset or even outweighed by the increased evaporation of cloud droplets near the cloud top, resulting in an overall decrease in LWP. Lastly, our results suggest that climate models need to include the dependence of cloud top growth and the evaporation/condensation process on cloud droplet number concentrations.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1337795
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1346036
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DOE DE-SC0008486; SC0008486
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online) Journal Volume: 17 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1680-7324
- Publisher:
- Copernicus Publications, EGU
- Country of Publication:
- Germany
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Zhou, Cheng, and Penner, Joyce E. Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM. Germany: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.5194/acp-17-21-2017.
Zhou, Cheng, & Penner, Joyce E. Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM. Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
Zhou, Cheng, and Penner, Joyce E. Mon .
"Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM". Germany. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017.
@article{osti_1337795,
title = {Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM},
author = {Zhou, Cheng and Penner, Joyce E.},
abstractNote = {Observation-based studies have shown that the aerosol cloud lifetime effect or the increase of cloud liquid water path (LWP) with increased aerosol loading may have been overestimated in climate models. Here, we simulate shallow warm clouds on 27 May 2011 at the southern Great Plains (SGP) measurement site established by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program using a single-column version of a global climate model (Community Atmosphere Model or CAM) and a cloud resolving model (CRM). The LWP simulated by CAM increases substantially with aerosol loading while that in the CRM does not. The increase of LWP in CAM is caused by a large decrease of the autoconversion rate when cloud droplet number increases. In the CRM, the autoconversion rate is also reduced, but this is offset or even outweighed by the increased evaporation of cloud droplets near the cloud top, resulting in an overall decrease in LWP. Lastly, our results suggest that climate models need to include the dependence of cloud top growth and the evaporation/condensation process on cloud droplet number concentrations.},
doi = {10.5194/acp-17-21-2017},
journal = {Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)},
number = 1,
volume = 17,
place = {Germany},
year = {Mon Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Mon Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-21-2017
Web of Science
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