Aerosol-cloud-precipitation Interactions in the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE).

Aerosol-cloud-precipitation Interactions in the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE). PDF Author: Zixia Liu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description

Aerosol-cloud-precipitation Interactions in the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE).

Aerosol-cloud-precipitation Interactions in the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE). PDF Author: Zixia Liu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description


Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation

Impact of Aerosols on Convective Clouds and Precipitation PDF Author: Wei-Kuo Tao
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 62

Get Book Here

Book Description
Aerosols are a critical factor in the atmospheric hydrological cycle and radiation budget. As a major agent for clouds to form and a significant attenuator of solar radiation, aerosols affect climate in several ways. Current research suggests that aerosol effects on clouds could further extend to precipitation, both through the formation of cloud particles and by exerting persistent radiative forcing on the climate system that disturbs dynamics. However, the various mechanisms behind these effects, in particular, the ones connected to precipitation, are not yet well understood. The atmospheric and climate communities have long been working to gain a better grasp of these critical effects and hence to reduce the significant uncertainties in climate prediction resulting from such a lack of adequate knowledge. Here we review past efforts and summarize our current understanding of the effect of aerosols on convective precipitation processes from theoretical analysis of microphysics, observational evidence, and a range of numerical model simulations. In addition, the discrepancies between results simulated by models, as well as those between simulations and observations, are presented. Specifically, this paper addresses the following topics: (1) fundamental theories of aerosol effects on microphysics and precipitation processes, (2) observational evidence of the effect of aerosols on precipitation processes, (3) signatures of the aerosol impact on precipitation from large-scale analyses, (4) results from cloud-resolving model simulations, and (5) results from large-scale numerical model simulations. Finally, several future research directions for gaining a better understanding of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions are suggested.

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions PDF Author: Udaya Bhaskar Gunturu
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description
(cont.) low or high, they are comparatively less efficient. As the most important part of our study, we examine the response of deep convection to changing initial aerosol concentration. Different aerosol concentrations from those representing pristine to polluted atmospheres are considered. We look at the buoyancy of the cloud and the microphysical evolution. It is found that the dynamics and microphysics are tightly coupled and we infer that to understand aerosol-cloud interactions in deep convective clouds, both - dynamics and microphysics - and their interaction have to be taken into consideration. Our results show that the response of a deep convective cloud to changing aerosol concentration is very different from the much well understood reponse of shallow clouds or small cumulus clouds. In general, increase in aerosol concentratin is seen to invigorate convection and lead to greater condensate. Although the cloud droplet size decreases, collision-coalescence is not completely inefficient. The precipitation in high aerosol regime is seen to occure in short spells of intense rain. A very interesting anomalous response of deep convection to initial aerosol concentration is observed at intermediate aerosol concentrations. The cloud lifetime, and precipitation are seen to increase in this regime. A possible mechanism to explain this anomalous behavior is proposed and the available circumstantial support for the mechanism from extant observations is presented. It is proposed that the efficient collection of rain and cloud droplets by ice and graupel particles in the middle troposphere is primarily responsible for this increased cloud lifetime and precipitation.

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions from Urban, Regional, to Global Scales

Aerosol-Cloud Interactions from Urban, Regional, to Global Scales PDF Author: Yuan Wang
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3662471752
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 100

Get Book Here

Book Description
The studies in this dissertation aim at advancing our scientific understandings about physical processes involved in the aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction and quantitatively assessing the impacts of aerosols on the cloud systems with diverse scales over the globe on the basis of the observational data analysis and various modeling studies. As recognized in the Fifth Assessment Report by the Inter-government Panel on Climate Change, the magnitude of radiative forcing by atmospheric aerosols is highly uncertain, representing the largest uncertainty in projections of future climate by anthropogenic activities. By using a newly implemented cloud microphysical scheme in the cloud-resolving model, the thesis assesses aerosol-cloud interaction for distinct weather systems, ranging from individual cumulus to mesoscale convective systems. This thesis also introduces a novel hierarchical modeling approach that solves a long outstanding mismatch between simulations by regional weather models and global climate models in the climate modeling community. More importantly, the thesis provides key scientific solutions to several challenging questions in climate science, including the global impacts of the Asian pollution. As scientists wrestle with the complexities of climate change in response to varied anthropogenic forcing, perhaps no problem is more challenging than the understanding of the impacts of atmospheric aerosols from air pollution on clouds and the global circulation.

Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in the Trade Wind Boundary Layer

Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in the Trade Wind Boundary Layer PDF Author: Eunsil Jung
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
This dissertation includes an overview of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation properties associated with shallow marine cumulus clouds observed during the Barbados Aerosol Cloud Experiment (BACEX, March-April 2010) and a discussion of their interactions. The principal observing platform for the experiment was the Cooperative Institute for Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter (TO) research aircraft that was equipped with aerosol, cloud, and precipitation probes, standard meteorological instruments, and a up-looking cloud radar. The temporal variations and vertical distributions of aerosols observed on the 15 flights show a wide range of aerosol conditions that include the most intense African dust event observed at the Barbados surface site during all of 2010. An average CCN varied from 50 cm-3 to 800 cm-3 at super-saturation of 0.6 %, for example. The 10-day backward trajectories show that three distinctive air masses (originality of air mass as well as the vertical structure) dominate over the Eastern Caribbean (e.g., typical maritime air mass, Saharan Air Layer (SAL), Middle latitude dry air) with characteristic aerosol vertical structures. Many clouds in various phases of growth during BACEX are sampled. The maximum cloud depth observed is about less than 3 km and in most of the clouds is less than 1 km. Two types of precipitation features were observed for the shallow marine cumulus clouds with different impacts on boundary layer. In one, precipitation shafts are observed to emanate from the cloud base with evaporation in the sub-cloud layer (stabilize the sub-cloud layer). In the other, precipitation shafts emanate mainly near the cloud top on the downshear side of the cloud and evaporate in the cloud layer, leading to destabilizing the cloud layer and providing moisture to the layer. Only 42-44 % of clouds sampled were purely non-precipitating throughout the clouds; the remainder of the clouds showed precipitation somewhere in the cloud, predominantly closer to the cloud top. The relationship between aerosol (Na), cloud droplets (Nd), and precipitation rates (R) is addressed to explore aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions. A robust increase in Nd with increase in aerosol concentrations is documented. Further, a strong linear relation between sub-cloud CCN and cloud-base Nd is observed in updrafts. The sensitivity of Nd to changes in vertical velocity perturbations w ́ (i.e., dlnNd /dlnw ́), is greater in the regimes of high aerosol concentrations, suggesting a slight increase in updrafts (or w ́) in polluted conditions can lead to greater increases in Nd. Suppression of precipitation with aerosol is a common feature during BACEX. To quantify this decrease of precipitation toward higher aerosol concentration, the sensitivity of precipitation to changes in aerosol (i.e., precipitation susceptibility S0 ) is examined. S0 exhibits three regimes and peaks at intermediate range of cloud thickness. Further, the removal of Nd , due to the rain (wet scavenging), makes susceptibility stronger overall. In addition to the aerosol feeding clouds from the sub-cloud layer, small cumuli can alter the aerosol properties of their immediate environment through cloud and precipitation processes. In the warm cumuli studied, the depletion of aerosols near cloud field (so-called cloud halos/shell regimes) are notable, and the reduction of aerosols is more significant in precipitating clouds compared with non-and/or light-precipitating clouds. The modification of boundary layer aerosol by cloud processes is also explored. The comparisons of the thermodynamic structures observed over Africa with those at Barbados indicate that layers below the SAL are moistened by surface fluxes and convective processes as the air masses are advected across the Atlantic over 7-10 days.

Modeling Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in Mountainous Regions

Modeling Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in Mountainous Regions PDF Author: Ana Barros
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
In mountainous regions, the nonlinear thermodynamics of orographic land-atmosphere interactions (LATMI) in organizing and maintaining moisture convergence patterns on the one hand, and aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions (ACPI) in modulating the vertical structure of precipitation and space-time variability of surface precipitation on the other, are difficult to separate unambiguously because the physiochemical characteristics of aerosols themselves exhibit large sub-regional scale variability. In this chapter, ACPI in the Central Himalayas are examined in detail using aerosol observations during JAMEX09 (Joint Aerosol Monsoon Campaign 2009) to specify CCN activation properties for simulations of a premonsoon convective storm using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) version 3.8.1. The focus is on contrasting AIE during episodes of remote pollution run-up from the Indo-Gangetic Plains and when only local aerosols are present in Central Nepal. This study suggests strong coupling between the vertical structure of convection in complex terrain that governs the time-scales and spatial organization of cloud development, CCN activation rates, and cold microphysics (e.g. graupel production is favored by slower activation spectra) that result in large shifts in the spatial distribution of precipitation, precipitation intensity and storm arrival time.

Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in Moist Orographic Flows

Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation Interactions in Moist Orographic Flows PDF Author: Andreas Mühlbauer
Publisher: Sudwestdeutscher Verlag Fur Hochschulschriften AG
ISBN: 9783838106809
Category : Aerosols
Languages : de
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Aerosols are ubiquitous in the Earth's atmosphere and influence the climate system through their interactions with clouds and radiation. With their ability to serve as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei aerosols influence microphysical processes in clouds thereby potentially affecting precipitation. In this book the possible effects of aerosols on orographic precipitation are investigated with a numerical model.

Toward Assessing the Effects of Aerosols on Deep Convection: a Numerical Study Using the WRF-Chemistry Model

Toward Assessing the Effects of Aerosols on Deep Convection: a Numerical Study Using the WRF-Chemistry Model PDF Author: Wendilyn J. Kaufeld
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
As the formative agents of cloud droplets, aerosols play an undeniably important role in the development of clouds and precipitation. Few meteorological models have been developed or adapted to simulate aerosols and their contribution to cloud and precipitation processes. The Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) has recently been coupled with an atmospheric chemistry suite and is jointly referred to as WRF-Chem, allowing atmospheric chemistry and meteorology to influence each other0́9s evolution within a mesoscale modeling framework. Provided that the model physics are robust, this framework allows the feedbacks between aerosol chemistry, cloud physics, and dynamics to be investigated. This study focuses on the effects of aerosols on meteorology, specifically, the interaction of aerosol chemical species with microphysical processes represented within the framework of the WRF-Chem. Aerosols are represented by eight size bins using the Model for Simulating Aerosol Interactions and Chemistry (MOSAIC) sectional parameterization, which is linked to the Purdue Lin bulk microphysics scheme. The aim of this study is to examine the sensitivity of deep convective precipitation modeled by the 2D WRF-Chem to varying aerosol number concentration and aerosol type. A systematic study has been performed regarding the effects of aerosols on parameters such as total precipitation, updraft/downdraft speed, distribution of hydrometeor species, and organizational features, within idealized maritime and continental thermodynamic environments. Initial results were obtained using WRFv3.0.1, and a second series of tests were run using WRFv3.2 after several changes to the activation, autoconversion, and Lin et al. microphysics schemes added by the WRF community, as well as the implementation of prescribed vertical levels by the author. The results of WRFv3.2 runs contrasted starkly with WRFv3.0.1 runs. The WRFv3.0.1 runs produced a propagating system resembling a developing squall line, whereas the WRFv3.2 runs did not. The response of total precipitation, updraft/downdraft speeds, and system organization to increasing aerosol concentrations were opposite between runs with different versions of WRF. Results of the WRFv3.2 runs, however, were in better agreement in timing and magnitude of vertical velocity and hydrometeor content with a WRFv3.0.1 run using single-moment Lin et al. microphysics, than WRFv3.0.1 runs with chemistry. One result consistent throughout all simulations was an inhibition in warm-rain processes due to enhanced aerosol concentrations, which resulted in a delay of precipitation onset that ranged from 2-3 minutes in WRFv3.2 runs, and up to 15 minutes in WRFv.3.0.1 runs. This result was not observed in a previous study by Ntelekos et al. (2009) using the WRF-Chem, perhaps due to their use of coarser horizontal and vertical resolution within their experiment. The changes to microphysical processes such as activation and autoconversion from WRFv3.0.1 to WRFv3.2, along with changes in the packing of vertical levels, had more impact than the varying aerosol concentrations even though the range of aerosol tested was greater than that observed in field studies. In order to take full advantage of the input of aerosols now offered by the chemistry module in WRF, the author recommends that a fully double-moment microphysics scheme be linked, rather than the limited double-moment Lin et al. scheme that currently exists. With this modification, the WRF-Chem will be a powerful tool for studying aerosol-cloud interactions and allow comparison of results with other studies using more modern and complex microphysical parameterizations.

Aerosol Pollution Impact on Precipitation

Aerosol Pollution Impact on Precipitation PDF Author: Zev Levin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402086903
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 399

Get Book Here

Book Description
Life on Earth is critically dependent upon the continuous cycling of water between oceans, continents and the atmosphere. Precipitation (including rain, snow, and hail) is the primary mechanism for transporting water from the atmosphere back to the Earth’s surface. It is also the key physical process that links aspects of climate, weather, and the global hydrological cycle. Changes in precipitation regimes and the frequency of extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, severe ice/snow storms, monsoon fluctuations and hurricanes are of great potential importance to life on the planet. One of the factors that could contribute to precipitation modification is aerosol pollution from various sources such as urban air pollution and biomass burning. Natural and anthropogenic changes in atmospheric aerosols might have important implications for precipitation by influencing the hydrological cycle, which in turn could feed back to climate changes. From an Earth Science perspective, a key question is how changes expected in climate will translate into changes in the hydrological cycle, and what trends may be expected in the future. We require a much better understanding and hence predictive capability of the moisture and energy storages and exchanges among the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, continents and biological systems. This book is a review of our knowledge of the relationship between aerosols and precipitation reaching the Earth's surface and it includes a list of recommendations that could help to advance our knowledge in this area.

Investigation of the Aerosol-cloud Interaction Using the WRF Framework

Investigation of the Aerosol-cloud Interaction Using the WRF Framework PDF Author: Guohui Li
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this dissertation, a two-moment bulk microphysical scheme with aerosol effects is developed and implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate the aerosol-cloud interaction. Sensitivities of cloud properties to the representation of aerosol size distributions are first evaluated using a simple box model and a cloud resolving model with a detailed spectral-bin microphysics, indicating that the three-moment method generally exhibits better performance in modeling cloud properties than the two-moment method against the sectional approach. A convective cloud event occurring on August 24, 2000 in Houston, Texas is investigated using the WRF model, and the simulation results are qualitatively in agreement with the measurements. Simulations with various aerosol profiles demonstrate that the response of precipitation to the increase of aerosol concentrations is non-monotonic. The maximal cloud cover, core updraft, and maximal vertical velocity exhibit similar responses as precipitation. The WRF model with the two-moment microphysical scheme successfully simulates the development of a squall line that occurred in the south plains of the U.S. Model experiments varying aerosol concentrations from the clean background case to the polluted continental case show that the aerosol concentrations insignificantly influence the rainfall pattern/distribution, but can remarkably alter the precipitation intensity. The WRF experiment with polluted aerosols predicts 12.8% more precipitation than that with clean aerosols, as well as more intensive rainfall locally. Using the monthly mean cloudiness from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), a trend of increasing deep convective clouds over the north Pacific in winter from 1984 to 2005 is detected. Additionally, through analyzing the results from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) version 2, we also show a trend of increasing wintertime precipitation over the north Pacific from 1984 to 2005. Simulations with the WRF model reveal that the increased deep convective clouds and precipitation are reproduced when accounting for the aerosol effect from the increasing Asian pollution outflow.