Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations
Mixed-phase clouds are ubiquitous in the Arctic. These clouds can persist for days and dissipate in a matter of hours. It is sometimes unknown what causes this sudden dissipation, but aerosol-cloud interactions may be involved. Arctic aerosol concentrations can be low enough to affect cloud formatio...
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt908579kj 2024-04-28T08:07:12+00:00 Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations Sterzinger, Lucas J Sedlar, Joseph Guy, Heather Neely, Ryan R Igel, Adele L 8973 - 8988 2022-01-01 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/908579kj unknown eScholarship, University of California qt908579kj https://escholarship.org/uc/item/908579kj public Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol 22, iss 13 Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Climate Action Astronomical and Space Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Climate change science article 2022 ftcdlib 2024-04-09T23:42:37Z Mixed-phase clouds are ubiquitous in the Arctic. These clouds can persist for days and dissipate in a matter of hours. It is sometimes unknown what causes this sudden dissipation, but aerosol-cloud interactions may be involved. Arctic aerosol concentrations can be low enough to affect cloud formation and structure, and it has been hypothesized that, in some instances, concentrations can drop below some critical value needed to maintain a cloud. We use observations from a Department of Energy ARM site on the northern slope of Alaska at Oliktok Point (OLI), the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS) field campaign in the high Arctic Ocean, and the Integrated Characterisation of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit - Aerosol Cloud Experiment (ICECAPS-ACE) project at the NSF (National Science Foundation) Summit Station in Greenland (SMT) to identify one case per site where Arctic boundary layer clouds dissipated coincidentally with a decrease in surface aerosol concentrations. These cases are used to initialize idealized large eddy simulations (LESs) in which aerosol concentrations are held constant until, at a specified time, all aerosols are removed instantaneously - effectively creating an extreme case of aerosol-limited dissipation which represents the fastest a cloud could possibly dissipate via this process. These LESs are compared against the observed data to determine whether cases could, potentially, be dissipating due to insufficient aerosol. The OLI case's observed liquid water path (LWP) dissipated faster than its simulation, indicating that other processes are likely the primary drivers of the dissipation. The ASCOS and SMT observed LWP dissipated at similar rates to their respective simulations, suggesting that aerosol-limited dissipation may be occurring in these instances. We also find that the microphysical response to this extreme aerosol forcing depends greatly on the specific case being simulated. Cases with drizzling liquid layers are simulated to dissipate by ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Greenland Alaska University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
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unknown |
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Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Climate Action Astronomical and Space Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Climate change science |
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Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Climate Action Astronomical and Space Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Climate change science Sterzinger, Lucas J Sedlar, Joseph Guy, Heather Neely, Ryan R Igel, Adele L Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Climate Action Astronomical and Space Sciences Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Climate change science |
description |
Mixed-phase clouds are ubiquitous in the Arctic. These clouds can persist for days and dissipate in a matter of hours. It is sometimes unknown what causes this sudden dissipation, but aerosol-cloud interactions may be involved. Arctic aerosol concentrations can be low enough to affect cloud formation and structure, and it has been hypothesized that, in some instances, concentrations can drop below some critical value needed to maintain a cloud. We use observations from a Department of Energy ARM site on the northern slope of Alaska at Oliktok Point (OLI), the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS) field campaign in the high Arctic Ocean, and the Integrated Characterisation of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric state, and Precipitation at Summit - Aerosol Cloud Experiment (ICECAPS-ACE) project at the NSF (National Science Foundation) Summit Station in Greenland (SMT) to identify one case per site where Arctic boundary layer clouds dissipated coincidentally with a decrease in surface aerosol concentrations. These cases are used to initialize idealized large eddy simulations (LESs) in which aerosol concentrations are held constant until, at a specified time, all aerosols are removed instantaneously - effectively creating an extreme case of aerosol-limited dissipation which represents the fastest a cloud could possibly dissipate via this process. These LESs are compared against the observed data to determine whether cases could, potentially, be dissipating due to insufficient aerosol. The OLI case's observed liquid water path (LWP) dissipated faster than its simulation, indicating that other processes are likely the primary drivers of the dissipation. The ASCOS and SMT observed LWP dissipated at similar rates to their respective simulations, suggesting that aerosol-limited dissipation may be occurring in these instances. We also find that the microphysical response to this extreme aerosol forcing depends greatly on the specific case being simulated. Cases with drizzling liquid layers are simulated to dissipate by ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sterzinger, Lucas J Sedlar, Joseph Guy, Heather Neely, Ryan R Igel, Adele L |
author_facet |
Sterzinger, Lucas J Sedlar, Joseph Guy, Heather Neely, Ryan R Igel, Adele L |
author_sort |
Sterzinger, Lucas J |
title |
Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
title_short |
Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
title_full |
Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
title_fullStr |
Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Do Arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? Evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
title_sort |
do arctic mixed-phase clouds sometimes dissipate due to insufficient aerosol? evidence from comparisons between observations and idealized simulations |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/908579kj |
op_coverage |
8973 - 8988 |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Greenland Alaska |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Greenland Alaska |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, vol 22, iss 13 |
op_relation |
qt908579kj https://escholarship.org/uc/item/908579kj |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1797576404160741376 |