Strong Ocean/Sea-Ice Contrasts Observed in Satellite-Derived Ice Crystal Number Concentrations in Arctic Ice Boundary-Layer Clouds
International audience The Arctic climate changes at a faster rate than the rest of the globe. Boundary-layer clouds may play an important role in this change. At temperatures below 0°C, mixed-phase clouds exist and their phase and longevity is influenced by the abundance of ice crystals, which in t...
Published in: | Geophysical Research Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
HAL CCSD
2022
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://insu.hal.science/insu-03779807 https://insu.hal.science/insu-03779807/document https://insu.hal.science/insu-03779807/file/Geophysical%20Research%20Letters%20-%202022%20-%20Papakonstantinou%25u2010Presvelou%20-%20Strong%20Ocean%20Sea%25u2010Ice%20Contrasts%20Observed%20in.pdf https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL098207 |
Summary: | International audience The Arctic climate changes at a faster rate than the rest of the globe. Boundary-layer clouds may play an important role in this change. At temperatures below 0°C, mixed-phase clouds exist and their phase and longevity is influenced by the abundance of ice crystals, which in turn is a function of aerosols serving as ice nucleating particles (INPs). Previous in situ studies suggested a local source of INPs due to biological activity over open ocean. Here we investigate ice crystal concentrations in clouds below 2 km at a large scale, by exploiting a newly developed data set—DARDAR-Nice—retrieved from active satellite remote sensing. The data set spans from 2006 to 2016. Contrary to previous expectation, we find that at a given latitude and temperature, there are more ice crystals over sea ice than over open ocean. This enhancement is particularly found in clouds south of 70°N, and also at temperatures between 0°C and −10°C. |
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