The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds
Supercooled clouds substantially impact polar surface energy budgets, but large-scale models often underestimate their occurrence, which motivates accurately establishing metrics of basic processes. An analysis of long-term measurements at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, combines...
Published in: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055941 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055592/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/3949/2021/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf |
id |
ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00055941 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnonlinearchiv:oai:noa.gwlb.de:cop_mods_00055941 2024-09-15T17:40:54+00:00 The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds Silber, Israel Fridlind, Ann M. Verlinde, Johannes Ackerman, Andrew S. Cesana, Grégory V. Knopf, Daniel A. 2021-03 electronic https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055941 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055592/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/3949/2021/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf eng eng Copernicus Publications Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics -- http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/volumes_and_issues.html -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2069847 -- 1680-7324 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055941 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055592/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/3949/2021/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article Verlagsveröffentlichung article Text doc-type:article 2021 ftnonlinearchiv https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 2024-06-26T04:41:37Z Supercooled clouds substantially impact polar surface energy budgets, but large-scale models often underestimate their occurrence, which motivates accurately establishing metrics of basic processes. An analysis of long-term measurements at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, combines lidar-validated use of soundings to identify supercooled cloud layers and colocated ground-based profiling radar measurements to quantify cloud base precipitation. We find that more than 85 % (75 %) of sampled supercooled layers are precipitating over the Arctic (Antarctic) site, with more than 75 % (50 %) precipitating continuously to the surface. Such high frequencies can be reconciled with substantially lesser spaceborne estimates by considering differences in radar hydrometeor detection sensitivity. While ice precipitation into supercooled clouds from aloft is common, we also find that the great majority of supercooled cloud layers without ice falling into them are themselves continuously generating precipitation. Such sustained primary ice formation is consistent with continuous activation of immersion-mode ice-nucleating particles (INPs), suggesting that supercooled cloud formation is a principal gateway to ice formation at temperatures greater than ∼-38 ∘C over polar regions. The prevalence of weak precipitation fluxes is also consistent with supercooled cloud longevity and with well-observed and widely simulated case studies. An analysis of colocated microwave radiometer retrievals suggests that weak precipitation fluxes can be nonetheless consequential to moisture budgets for supercooled clouds owing to small liquid water paths. The results here also demonstrate that the observed abundance of mixed-phase clouds can vary substantially with instrument sensitivity and methodology. Finally, we suggest that these ground-based precipitation rate statistics offer valuable guidance for improving the representation of polar cloud processes in large-scale models. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Alaska Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 21 5 3949 3971 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Niedersächsisches Online-Archiv NOA |
op_collection_id |
ftnonlinearchiv |
language |
English |
topic |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
spellingShingle |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung Silber, Israel Fridlind, Ann M. Verlinde, Johannes Ackerman, Andrew S. Cesana, Grégory V. Knopf, Daniel A. The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
topic_facet |
article Verlagsveröffentlichung |
description |
Supercooled clouds substantially impact polar surface energy budgets, but large-scale models often underestimate their occurrence, which motivates accurately establishing metrics of basic processes. An analysis of long-term measurements at Utqiaġvik, Alaska, and McMurdo Station, Antarctica, combines lidar-validated use of soundings to identify supercooled cloud layers and colocated ground-based profiling radar measurements to quantify cloud base precipitation. We find that more than 85 % (75 %) of sampled supercooled layers are precipitating over the Arctic (Antarctic) site, with more than 75 % (50 %) precipitating continuously to the surface. Such high frequencies can be reconciled with substantially lesser spaceborne estimates by considering differences in radar hydrometeor detection sensitivity. While ice precipitation into supercooled clouds from aloft is common, we also find that the great majority of supercooled cloud layers without ice falling into them are themselves continuously generating precipitation. Such sustained primary ice formation is consistent with continuous activation of immersion-mode ice-nucleating particles (INPs), suggesting that supercooled cloud formation is a principal gateway to ice formation at temperatures greater than ∼-38 ∘C over polar regions. The prevalence of weak precipitation fluxes is also consistent with supercooled cloud longevity and with well-observed and widely simulated case studies. An analysis of colocated microwave radiometer retrievals suggests that weak precipitation fluxes can be nonetheless consequential to moisture budgets for supercooled clouds owing to small liquid water paths. The results here also demonstrate that the observed abundance of mixed-phase clouds can vary substantially with instrument sensitivity and methodology. Finally, we suggest that these ground-based precipitation rate statistics offer valuable guidance for improving the representation of polar cloud processes in large-scale models. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Silber, Israel Fridlind, Ann M. Verlinde, Johannes Ackerman, Andrew S. Cesana, Grégory V. Knopf, Daniel A. |
author_facet |
Silber, Israel Fridlind, Ann M. Verlinde, Johannes Ackerman, Andrew S. Cesana, Grégory V. Knopf, Daniel A. |
author_sort |
Silber, Israel |
title |
The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
title_short |
The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
title_full |
The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
title_fullStr |
The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
title_full_unstemmed |
The prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
title_sort |
prevalence of precipitation from polar supercooled clouds |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055941 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055592/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/3949/2021/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Alaska |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Alaska |
op_relation |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics -- http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/volumes_and_issues.html -- http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/ezeit/?2069847 -- 1680-7324 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 https://noa.gwlb.de/receive/cop_mods_00055941 https://noa.gwlb.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/cop_derivate_00055592/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/21/3949/2021/acp-21-3949-2021.pdf |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ uneingeschränkt info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3949-2021 |
container_title |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
container_volume |
21 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
3949 |
op_container_end_page |
3971 |
_version_ |
1810486967433953280 |