Liquid Containing Clouds at the North Slope of Alaska Demonstrate Sensitivity to Local Industrial Aerosol Emissions

Abstract Cloud condensation nucleus control alter cloud solar albedo through cloud droplet size. Here, we leverage anthropogenic emissions at the North Slope of Alaska as a natural laboratory to study relationships between aerosols and Arctic liquid‐containing clouds. Averaging 14 years of MODIS obs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Maahn, Maximilian, Goren, Tom, Shupe, Matthew, D, de Boer, Gijs
Other Authors: Leipziger Institut für Meteorologie (LIM), Universität Leipzig, Bar-Ilan University Israël, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory (PSL), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), University of Colorado Boulder -National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), ANR-20-CE92-0008,CDNC4aci,Concentration en nombre des gouttelettes – restitutions satellitaires améliorées par modélisation atmosphérique pour l'analyse des interactions aérosols-nuages(2020)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2021
Subjects:
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph]
Arctic
albedo
north slope
Prudhoe Bay
Alaska
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-04230142
https://hal.science/hal-04230142/document
https://hal.science/hal-04230142/file/Volltext%20%28PDF%29.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094307
Description
Summary:Abstract Cloud condensation nucleus control alter cloud solar albedo through cloud droplet size. Here, we leverage anthropogenic emissions at the North Slope of Alaska as a natural laboratory to study relationships between aerosols and Arctic liquid‐containing clouds. Averaging 14 years of MODIS observations, we found a reduction in temporally averaged cloud effective radius ( ) of up to 1.0 μm related to localized pollution. Pronounced regional gradients in cloud frequency of occurrence and liquid water path prohibit the detection of potential changes of these variables. Observed changes of alter radiative fluxes and increase cloud‐reflected shortwave radiation by up to 0.8 W m − 2 in the Prudhoe Bay area for the period covered by observations (April–September). Due to the frequent occurrence of liquid‐containing clouds, this implies that enhanced local emissions in Arctic regions can impact climate processes.

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