Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation

Gettelman, A.; Liu, Xiaohong; Barahona, Donifan; Lohmann, U.; Chen, Chih-Chieh

doi:10.1029/2012JD017950

Title: Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation

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Abstract

[1] Several different ice nucleation parameterizations in two different General Circulation Models (GCMs) are used to understand the effects of ice nucleation on the mean climate state, and the Aerosol Indirect Effects (AIE) of cirrus clouds on climate. Simulations have a range of ice microphysical states that are consistent with the spread of observations, but many simulations have higher present-day ice crystal number concentrations than in-situ observations. These different states result from different parameterizations of ice cloud nucleation processes, and feature different balances of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. Black carbon aerosols have a small (-0.06 Wm^-2) and not statistically significant AIE when included as ice nuclei, for nucleation efficiencies within the range of laboratory measurements. Indirect effects of anthropogenic aerosols on cirrus clouds occur as a consequence of increasing anthropogenic sulfur emissions with different mechanisms important in different models. In one model this is due to increases in homogeneous nucleation fraction, and in the other due to increases in heterogeneous nucleation with coated dust. The magnitude of the effect is the same however. The resulting ice AIE does not seem strongly dependent on the balance between homogeneous and heterogeneous ice nucleation. Regional effects can reach several Wm^-2. Indirect effects aremore »« less

Authors:

Gettelman, A. ^[1]; Liu, Xiaohong ^[2]; Barahona, Donifan ^[3]; Lohmann, U. ^[4]; Chen, Chih-Chieh ^[1]

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)
Inst. for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Zurich (Switzerland)

Publication Date:: Fri Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2012

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

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE

OSTI Identifier:: 1054037

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-87214
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-8996; KP1701000; KP1703010

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (Online)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 117; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-8996

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: CLIMATES; ICE; NUCLEATION; climate; impacts; ice; nucleation

Citation Formats


                    Gettelman, A., Liu, Xiaohong, Barahona, Donifan, Lohmann, U., and Chen, Chih-Chieh. Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation.  United States: N. p., 2012. 
        Web.  doi:10.1029/2012JD017950.

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                    Gettelman, A., Liu, Xiaohong, Barahona, Donifan, Lohmann, U., & Chen, Chih-Chieh. Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017950

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                    Gettelman, A., Liu, Xiaohong, Barahona, Donifan, Lohmann, U., and Chen, Chih-Chieh. 2012.  
        "Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017950.

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@article{osti_1054037,

  title        = {Climate Impacts of Ice Nucleation},

  author       = {Gettelman, A. and Liu, Xiaohong and Barahona, Donifan and Lohmann, U. and Chen, Chih-Chieh},

  abstractNote = {[1] Several different ice nucleation parameterizations in two different General Circulation Models (GCMs) are used to understand the effects of ice nucleation on the mean climate state, and the Aerosol Indirect Effects (AIE) of cirrus clouds on climate. Simulations have a range of ice microphysical states that are consistent with the spread of observations, but many simulations have higher present-day ice crystal number concentrations than in-situ observations. These different states result from different parameterizations of ice cloud nucleation processes, and feature different balances of homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. Black carbon aerosols have a small (-0.06 Wm-2) and not statistically significant AIE when included as ice nuclei, for nucleation efficiencies within the range of laboratory measurements. Indirect effects of anthropogenic aerosols on cirrus clouds occur as a consequence of increasing anthropogenic sulfur emissions with different mechanisms important in different models. In one model this is due to increases in homogeneous nucleation fraction, and in the other due to increases in heterogeneous nucleation with coated dust. The magnitude of the effect is the same however. The resulting ice AIE does not seem strongly dependent on the balance between homogeneous and heterogeneous ice nucleation. Regional effects can reach several Wm-2. Indirect effects are slightly larger for those states with less homogeneous nucleation and lower ice number concentration in the base state. The total ice AIE is estimated at 0.27 ± 0.10 Wm-2 (1σ uncertainty). Finally, this represents a 20% offset of the simulated total shortwave AIE for ice and liquid clouds of -1.6 Wm-2.},

  doi          = {10.1029/2012JD017950},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1054037},
  journal      = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (Online)},

  issn         = {2169-8996},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 117,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Fri Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2012},

  month        = {Fri Oct 19 00:00:00 EDT 2012}

}

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