Aerosol Indirect Effects on Warm Clouds in the Grid-Point Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG(GAMIL)

Aerosol indirect effects on warm clouds are estimated in the Grid-point Atmospheric Model of the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics,Institute of Atmospheric Physics(IAP LASG)(GAMIL) with a new two-moment cloud microphysics scheme using two different physically-based aerosol activation parameterizations:Abdul-Razzak and Ghan,and Nenes and Seinfeld.The annual global mean changes in shortwave cloud forcing from preindustrial times to present day(a measure of the aerosol indirect effects) estimated from these two parameterizations are remarkably similar:0.76 W m?2 with the Abdul-Razzak and Ghan parameterization,and 0.78 W m?2 with the Nenes and Seinfeld parameterization.Physically-based parameterizations can provide robust representations of aerosol effects on droplet nucleation,meaning that aerosol activation is no longer the most uncertain factor in modeling aerosol indirect effects.

Analytical Studies of the Cloud Droplet Spectral Dispersion Influence on the First Indirect Aerosol Effect

Atmospheric aerosols （acting as cloud condensation nuclei） can enhance the cloud droplet number concentration and reduce the cloud droplet size, and in turn affect the cloud optical depth, as well as the cloud albedo, and thereby exert a radiative influence on climate （the first indirect aerosol effect）. In this paper, based on various relationships between cloud droplet spectral dispersion （c） and cloud droplet number concentration （Nc）, we analytically derive the corresponding expressions of the cloud radiative forcing induced by changes in the cloud droplet number concentration. Further quantitative evaluation indicates that the cloud radiative forcing induced by aerosols for the different ^-Nc relationships varies from -29.1% to 25.2%, compared to the case without considering spectral dispersion （e = 0）. Our results suggest that an accurate description of e - Nc relationships helps to reduce the uncertainty of the first indirect aerosol effect and advances our scientific understanding of aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions.

First Surface-based Estimation of the Aerosol Indirect Effect over a Site in Southeastern China

The deployment of the U.S. Atmospheric Radiation Measurement mobile facility in Shouxian from May to December 2008 amassed the most comprehensive set of measurements of atmospheric, surface, aerosol, and cloud variables in China. This deployment provided a unique opportunity to investigate the aerosol-cloud interactions, which are most challenging and, to date, have not been examined to any great degree in China. The relationship between cloud droplet effective radius （CER） and aerosol index （AI） is very weak in summer because the cloud droplet growth is least affected by the competition for water vapor. Mean cloud liquid water path （LWP） and cloud optical depth （COD） significantly increase with increasing AI in fall. The sensitivities of CER and LWP to aerosol loading increases are not significantly different under different air mass conditions. There is a significant correlation between the changes in hourly mean AI and the changes in hourly mean CER, LWP, and COD. The aerosol first indirect effect （FIE） is estimated in terms of relative changes in both CER （FIEcER） and COD （FIEcoD） with changes in AI for different seasons and air masses. FIEcoD and FIEcER are similar in magnitude and close to the typical FIE value of - 0.23, and do not change much between summer and fall or between the two different air mass conditions. Similar analyses were done using spaceborne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data. The satellite-derived FIE is contrary to the FIE estimated from surface retrievals and may have large uncertainties due to some inherent limitations.

Aerosol Properties and Their Impacts on Surface CCN at the ARM Southern Great Plains Site during the 2011 Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment

Aerosol particles are of particular importance because of their impacts on cloud development and precipitation processes over land and ocean. Aerosol properties as well as meteorological observations from the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement （ARM） platform situated in the Southern Great Plains （SGP） are utilized in this study to illustrate the dependence of continental cloud condensation nuclei （CCN） number concentration （NccN） on aerosol type and transport pathways. ARM-SGP observations from the 2011 Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment field campaign are presented in this study and compared with our previous work during the 2009-10 Clouds, Aerosol, and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer field campaign over the current ARM Eastern North Atlantic site. Northerly winds over the SGP reflect clean, continental conditions with aerosol scattering coefficient （~rsp） values less than 20 Mm-1 and Ncct~ values less than 100 cm .3. However, southerly winds over the SGP are responsible for the observed moderate to high correlation （R） among aerosol loading （Crsp 〉 60 Mm 1） and NCCN, carbonaceous chemical species （biomass burning smoke）, and precip- itable water vapor. This suggests a common transport mechanism for smoke aerosols and moisture via the Gull＇ of Mexico, indicating a strong dependence on air mass type. NASA MERRA-2 reanalysis aerosol and chemical data are moderately to highly correlated with surface ARM-SGP data, suggesting that this facility can represent surface aerosol conditions in the SGE especially during strong aerosol loading events that transport via the Gulf of Mexico. Future long-term investigations will help to understand the seasonal influences of air masses on aerosol, CCN, and cloud properties over land in comparison to over ocean.

Model Analysis of the Anthropogenic Aerosol Effect on Clouds over East Asia

A coupled meteorology and aerosol/chemistry model WRF-Chem （Weather Research and Forecast model coupled with Chemistry） was used to conduct a pair of simulations with present-day （PD） and preindustrial （P1） emissions over East Asia to examine the aerosol indirect effect on clouds. As a result of an increase in aerosols in January, the cloud droplet number increased by 650 cm-3 over the ocean and East China, 400 cm-3 over Central and Southwest China, and less than 200 cm-3 over North China. The cloud liquid water path （LWP） increased by 40-60 g m-2 over the ocean and Southeast China and 30 g m-2 over Central China; the LWP in- creased less than 5 g m-2 or decreased by 5 g m2 over North China. The effective radius （Re） decreased by more than 4 pm over Southwest, Central, and Southeast China and 2 pm over North China. In July, variations in cloud properties were more uniform; the cloud droplet number increased by approximately 250400 cm-3, the LWP increased by approximately 30-50 g m 2, and Re decreased by approximately 3 μm over most regions of China. In response to cloud property changes from PI to PD, shortwave （SW） cloud radiative m-2 over the ocean and 10 forcing strengthened by 30 W W m-2 over Southeast China, and it weakened slightly by approximately 2-10 W m-2 over Central and Southwest China in January. In July, SW cloud radiative forcing strengthened by 15 W m-2 over Southeast and North China and weakened by l0 W m-2 over Central China. The different responses of SW cloud radiative forcing in different regions was related to cloud feedbacks and natural variability.