Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic
Extensive regions of marine boundary layer cloud impact the radiative balance through their significant shortwave albedo while having little impact on outgoing longwave radiation. Despite this importance, these cloud systems remain poorly represented in large-scale models due to difficulty in repres...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:793a8e060f3447b3822346c467771e87 2023-05-15T17:31:41+02:00 Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic M. P. Jensen V. P. Ghate D. Wang D. K. Apoznanski M. J. Bartholomew S. E. Giangrande K. L. Johnson M. M. Thieman 2021-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 https://doaj.org/article/793a8e060f3447b3822346c467771e87 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/14557/2021/acp-21-14557-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/793a8e060f3447b3822346c467771e87 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 14557-14571 (2021) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 2022-12-31T15:23:37Z Extensive regions of marine boundary layer cloud impact the radiative balance through their significant shortwave albedo while having little impact on outgoing longwave radiation. Despite this importance, these cloud systems remain poorly represented in large-scale models due to difficulty in representing the processes that drive their life cycle and coverage. In particular, the mesoscale organization and cellular structure of marine boundary clouds have important implications for the subsequent cloud feedbacks. In this study, we use long-term (2013–2018) observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility's Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) site on Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal, to identify cloud cases with open- or closed-cellular organization. More than 500 h of each organization type are identified. The ARM observations are combined with reanalysis and satellite products to quantify the cloud, precipitation, aerosol, thermodynamic, and large-scale synoptic characteristics associated with these cloud types. Our analysis shows that both cloud organization populations occur during similar sea surface temperature conditions, but the open-cell cases are distinguished by stronger cold-air advection and large-scale subsidence compared to the closed-cell cases, consistent with their formation during cold-air outbreaks. We also find that the open-cell cases were associated with deeper boundary layers, stronger low-level winds, and higher rain rates compared to their closed-cell counterparts. Finally, raindrops with diameters larger than 1 mm were routinely recorded at the surface during both populations, with a higher number of large drops during the open-cellular cases. The similarities and differences noted herein provide important insights into the environmental and cloud characteristics during varying marine boundary layer cloud mesoscale organization and will be useful for the evaluation of model simulations for ENA marine clouds. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 19 14557 14571 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 M. P. Jensen V. P. Ghate D. Wang D. K. Apoznanski M. J. Bartholomew S. E. Giangrande K. L. Johnson M. M. Thieman Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
Extensive regions of marine boundary layer cloud impact the radiative balance through their significant shortwave albedo while having little impact on outgoing longwave radiation. Despite this importance, these cloud systems remain poorly represented in large-scale models due to difficulty in representing the processes that drive their life cycle and coverage. In particular, the mesoscale organization and cellular structure of marine boundary clouds have important implications for the subsequent cloud feedbacks. In this study, we use long-term (2013–2018) observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility's Eastern North Atlantic (ENA) site on Graciosa Island, Azores, Portugal, to identify cloud cases with open- or closed-cellular organization. More than 500 h of each organization type are identified. The ARM observations are combined with reanalysis and satellite products to quantify the cloud, precipitation, aerosol, thermodynamic, and large-scale synoptic characteristics associated with these cloud types. Our analysis shows that both cloud organization populations occur during similar sea surface temperature conditions, but the open-cell cases are distinguished by stronger cold-air advection and large-scale subsidence compared to the closed-cell cases, consistent with their formation during cold-air outbreaks. We also find that the open-cell cases were associated with deeper boundary layers, stronger low-level winds, and higher rain rates compared to their closed-cell counterparts. Finally, raindrops with diameters larger than 1 mm were routinely recorded at the surface during both populations, with a higher number of large drops during the open-cellular cases. The similarities and differences noted herein provide important insights into the environmental and cloud characteristics during varying marine boundary layer cloud mesoscale organization and will be useful for the evaluation of model simulations for ENA marine clouds. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. P. Jensen V. P. Ghate D. Wang D. K. Apoznanski M. J. Bartholomew S. E. Giangrande K. L. Johnson M. M. Thieman |
author_facet |
M. P. Jensen V. P. Ghate D. Wang D. K. Apoznanski M. J. Bartholomew S. E. Giangrande K. L. Johnson M. M. Thieman |
author_sort |
M. P. Jensen |
title |
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
title_short |
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
title_full |
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern North Atlantic |
title_sort |
contrasting characteristics of open- and closed-cellular stratocumulus cloud in the eastern north atlantic |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 https://doaj.org/article/793a8e060f3447b3822346c467771e87 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 21, Pp 14557-14571 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/14557/2021/acp-21-14557-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 doi:10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/793a8e060f3447b3822346c467771e87 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14557-2021 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
19 |
container_start_page |
14557 |
op_container_end_page |
14571 |
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1766129367092559872 |