Key drivers of cloud response to surface-active organics
Abstract
Aerosol-cloud interactions constitute the largest source of uncertainty in global radiative forcing estimates, hampering our understanding of climate evolution. Recent empirical evidence suggests surface tension depression by organic aerosol to significantly influence the formation of cloud droplets, and hence cloud optical properties. In climate models, however, surface tension of water is generally assumed when predicting cloud droplet concentrations. Here we show that the sensitivity of cloud microphysics, optical properties and shortwave radiative effects to the surface phase are dictated by an interplay between the aerosol particle size distribution, composition, water availability and atmospheric dynamics. We demonstrate that accounting for the surface phase becomes essential in clean environments in which ultrafine particle sources are present. Through detailed sensitivity analysis, quantitative constraints on the key drivers – aerosol particle number concentrations, organic fraction and fixed updraft velocity – are derived for instances of significant cloud microphysical susceptibilities to the surface phase.
- Authors:
-
[2];
- Stockholm Univ. (Sweden)
- Univ. of Exeter, Exeter (United Kingdom)
- Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Manchester (United Kingdom)
- Stockholm Univ. (Sweden); Tampere Univ. of Technology, Tampere (Finland)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division; Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1580985
- Grant/Contract Number:
- [AC02-05CH11231]
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- [ Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 1]; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Citation Formats
Lowe, S. J., Partridge, D. G., Davies, J. F., Wilson, K. R., Topping, D., and Riipinen, I. Key drivers of cloud response to surface-active organics. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12982-0.
Lowe, S. J., Partridge, D. G., Davies, J. F., Wilson, K. R., Topping, D., & Riipinen, I. Key drivers of cloud response to surface-active organics. United States. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12982-0.
Lowe, S. J., Partridge, D. G., Davies, J. F., Wilson, K. R., Topping, D., and Riipinen, I. Mon .
"Key drivers of cloud response to surface-active organics". United States. doi:10.1038/s41467-019-12982-0. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1580985.
@article{osti_1580985,
title = {Key drivers of cloud response to surface-active organics},
author = {Lowe, S. J. and Partridge, D. G. and Davies, J. F. and Wilson, K. R. and Topping, D. and Riipinen, I.},
abstractNote = {Aerosol-cloud interactions constitute the largest source of uncertainty in global radiative forcing estimates, hampering our understanding of climate evolution. Recent empirical evidence suggests surface tension depression by organic aerosol to significantly influence the formation of cloud droplets, and hence cloud optical properties. In climate models, however, surface tension of water is generally assumed when predicting cloud droplet concentrations. Here we show that the sensitivity of cloud microphysics, optical properties and shortwave radiative effects to the surface phase are dictated by an interplay between the aerosol particle size distribution, composition, water availability and atmospheric dynamics. We demonstrate that accounting for the surface phase becomes essential in clean environments in which ultrafine particle sources are present. Through detailed sensitivity analysis, quantitative constraints on the key drivers – aerosol particle number concentrations, organic fraction and fixed updraft velocity – are derived for instances of significant cloud microphysical susceptibilities to the surface phase.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-12982-0},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = [1],
volume = [10],
place = {United States},
year = {2019},
month = {11}
}
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