Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling
Stratocumulus clouds are important to the Arctic climate because they are prevalent and exert a strong radiative forcing on the surface. However, relatively little is known about how stratocumulus clouds form in the Arctic. In this study, radiative transfer calculations are used to show that the tim...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1570417 2023-07-30T04:00:28+02:00 Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling Simpfendoerfer, Lucien F. Verlinde, Johannes Harrington, Jerry Y. Shupe, Matthew D. Chen, Yao‐Sheng Clothiaux, Eugene E. Golaz, Jean‐Christophe 2022-03-31 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570417 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1570417 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570417 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1570417 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 doi:10.1029/2018JD030189 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2022 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 2023-07-11T09:37:36Z Stratocumulus clouds are important to the Arctic climate because they are prevalent and exert a strong radiative forcing on the surface. However, relatively little is known about how stratocumulus clouds form in the Arctic. In this study, radiative transfer calculations are used to show that the timescale over which stably stratified Arctic temperature and water vapor profiles cool to saturation is less than typical residence times for individual air parcels in the Arctic. This result is consistent with previous studies in suggesting that elevated stratocumulus can form naturally through clear-sky radiative cooling during all seasons, without assistance from frontal lifting or other atmospheric forcing. Single column model simulations of the cloud formation process, after radiative cooling has resulted in saturation in a stably stratified profile, suggest that stratocumulus cloud properties are sensitive to the characteristics of the environment in which the formation process takes place. For example, sensitivity tests suggest that clouds may attain liquid water paths of over 50 g/m 2 if they form in moist environments but may become locked in a low-liquid water path quasi steady state or dissipate within hours if they form in dry environments. A potential consequence of these sensitivities is that when an Arctic stratocumulus layer forms by radiative cooling, it is more likely to become optically thick, optically thin, or dissipate than it is to obtain an intermediate optical thickness. This could help explain why the cloudy and radiatively clear atmospheric states are so prevalent across the Arctic. Other/Unknown Material Arctic SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Arctic Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 124 16 9644 9664 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Simpfendoerfer, Lucien F. Verlinde, Johannes Harrington, Jerry Y. Shupe, Matthew D. Chen, Yao‐Sheng Clothiaux, Eugene E. Golaz, Jean‐Christophe Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Stratocumulus clouds are important to the Arctic climate because they are prevalent and exert a strong radiative forcing on the surface. However, relatively little is known about how stratocumulus clouds form in the Arctic. In this study, radiative transfer calculations are used to show that the timescale over which stably stratified Arctic temperature and water vapor profiles cool to saturation is less than typical residence times for individual air parcels in the Arctic. This result is consistent with previous studies in suggesting that elevated stratocumulus can form naturally through clear-sky radiative cooling during all seasons, without assistance from frontal lifting or other atmospheric forcing. Single column model simulations of the cloud formation process, after radiative cooling has resulted in saturation in a stably stratified profile, suggest that stratocumulus cloud properties are sensitive to the characteristics of the environment in which the formation process takes place. For example, sensitivity tests suggest that clouds may attain liquid water paths of over 50 g/m 2 if they form in moist environments but may become locked in a low-liquid water path quasi steady state or dissipate within hours if they form in dry environments. A potential consequence of these sensitivities is that when an Arctic stratocumulus layer forms by radiative cooling, it is more likely to become optically thick, optically thin, or dissipate than it is to obtain an intermediate optical thickness. This could help explain why the cloudy and radiatively clear atmospheric states are so prevalent across the Arctic. |
author |
Simpfendoerfer, Lucien F. Verlinde, Johannes Harrington, Jerry Y. Shupe, Matthew D. Chen, Yao‐Sheng Clothiaux, Eugene E. Golaz, Jean‐Christophe |
author_facet |
Simpfendoerfer, Lucien F. Verlinde, Johannes Harrington, Jerry Y. Shupe, Matthew D. Chen, Yao‐Sheng Clothiaux, Eugene E. Golaz, Jean‐Christophe |
author_sort |
Simpfendoerfer, Lucien F. |
title |
Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
title_short |
Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
title_full |
Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
title_fullStr |
Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Formation of Arctic Stratocumuli Through Atmospheric Radiative Cooling |
title_sort |
formation of arctic stratocumuli through atmospheric radiative cooling |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570417 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1570417 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1570417 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1570417 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 doi:10.1029/2018JD030189 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030189 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
16 |
container_start_page |
9644 |
op_container_end_page |
9664 |
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1772810965627174912 |