Observed Relationships Between Cloud Droplet Effective Radius and Biogenic Gas Concentrations in Summertime Marine Stratocumulus Over the Eastern North Atlantic

• Published in: Earth and Space Science
• Main Authors: Mark A. Miller, Zackary Mages, Qiuxuan Zheng, Lynne Trabachino, Lynn M. Russell, John E. Shilling, Maria A. Zawadowicz
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2022
• Subjects: marine boundary layer; biogenic gases; cloud microphysics; dimethyl sulfide; methane sulfonic acid; ACE‐ENA; Astronomy; QB1-991; Geology; QE1-996.5; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA001929; https://doaj.org/article/031c4d4827c64f419e4014a132848b9c

Abstract Biogenic gases are a prominent component of the summertime marine boundary layer (MBL) over the Eastern North Atlantic. One of these gases, dimethyl sulfide (DMS), can produce sulfate cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) that, in theory, can brighten clouds through photolysis, and produces a reaction product, methane sulfonic acid (MSA). It is also possible that DMS can interact with sea‐salt or other marine aerosols changing their CCN activation spectrum, which could also modify cloud microphysical structure. Data collected aboard the G1 aircraft during the Aerosol Cloud Experiment Eastern North Atlantic (ACE‐ENA) in well‐mixed and decoupled marine boundary layers (MBLs) were used to examine relationships between the cloud droplet effective radii, re ${r}_{e}$, and the concentrations of DMS and MSA in constant cloud liquid water content (LWC) bins. A weak but statistically significant negative correlation was observed between CCN concentration and re ${r}_{e}$ in most LWC bins, regardless of the source of the CCN, while a weak but statistically significant positive correlation between re ${r}_{e}$ and DMS was observed. No correlation between the cloud droplet number concentration and DMS was found. The presence of MSA indicated that DMS‐to‐sulfate photolysis was likely occurring, but data sparsity prevented a statistically significant conclusion regarding the relationship between MSA and re ${r}_{e}$. Data sparsity in decoupled conditions also prevented statistically significant conclusions. To properly address biogenic gas impacts on cloud microphysics, it is recommended that aircraft data be supplemented by long‐term biogenic gas measurements at the surface in marine locations with appropriate remote and in‐situ cloud sensing capabilities, and the analysis limited to well‐mixed MBL's.