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Title: Characteristic Vertical Profiles of Cloud Water Composition in Marine Stratocumulus Clouds and Relationships With Precipitation

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027900· OSTI ID:1439004
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  3. Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA (United States); NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
  4. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Atmospheric Science and Global Change Div. (ASGC)
  5. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (United States)
  6. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

This study uses airborne cloud water composition measurements to characterize the vertical structure of air-equivalent mass concentrations of water-soluble species in marine stratocumulus clouds off the California coast. In this work, a total of 385 cloud water samples were collected in the months of July and August between 2011 and 2016 and analyzed for water-soluble ionic and elemental composition. Three characteristic profiles emerge: (i) a reduction of concentration with in-cloud altitude for particulate species directly emitted from sources below cloud without in-cloud sources (e.g., Cl-, Na+); (ii) an increase of concentration with in-cloud altitude (e.g., NO2-, formate); and (iii) species exhibiting a peak in concentration in the middle of cloud (e.g., non-sea salt SO42-, NO3-, organic acids). Vertical profiles of rainout parameters such as loss frequency, lifetime, and change in concentration with respect to time show that the scavenging efficiency throughout the cloud depth depends strongly on the thickness of the cloud. Thin clouds exhibit a greater scavenging loss frequency at cloud top, while thick clouds have a greater scavenging loss frequency at cloud base. The implications of these results for treatment of wet scavenging in models are discussed.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; N00014-10-1-0811; N00014-11-1-0783; N00014-10-1-0200; N00014-04-1-0118; N00014-16-1-2567
OSTI ID:
1439004
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-133226; KP1703020
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 123, Issue 7; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

Cloud Adiabaticity and Its Relationship to Marine Stratocumulus Characteristics Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean journal December 2018
Effects of Aerosols on the Precipitation of Convective Clouds: A Case Study in the Yangtze River Delta of China journal July 2019
An annual time series of weekly size-resolved aerosol properties in the megacity of Metro Manila, Philippines journal April 2020
Evidence of Natural and Anthropogenic Impacts on Rainwater Trace Metal Geochemistry in Central Mexico: A Statistical Approach journal January 2020
Development and characterization of a high-efficiency, aircraft-based axial cyclone cloud water collector journal January 2018

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