Arctic mixed-phase clouds from the micro- to the mesoscale: insights from high-resolution modeling ...
Clouds play a key role in the local Arctic radiative budget and the hydrological cycle. In particular, cloud presence, vertical and horizontal extent, micro- and macrophysical characteristics, temperature, and thermodynamic phase are relevant properties determining the cloud's interaction with...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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ETH Zurich
2019
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000404229 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/404229 |
| Summary: | Clouds play a key role in the local Arctic radiative budget and the hydrological cycle. In particular, cloud presence, vertical and horizontal extent, micro- and macrophysical characteristics, temperature, and thermodynamic phase are relevant properties determining the cloud's interaction with its environment. Especially Arctic low-level clouds have been found to strongly interact with atmospheric radiation and to have a net warming effect on the Earth surface during most of the year through the emission of longwave radiation. Low-level clouds reside within the boundary layer and are often mixed-phase, i.e. they contain a mixture of cloud ice and liquid water. Even though the coexistence of ice and liquid is thermodynamically unstable, low-level Arctic mixed-phase clouds (MPCs) have been found to be particularly persistent, a phenomenon that has puzzled the scientific community for decades. Yet, a profound understanding of the processes controlling Arctic MPC persistence, microphysics, and dynamics is so far ... |
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