A satellite-based estimate of aerosol-cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean

Zamora, Lauren; Kahn, Ralph A.; Huebert, Klaus B.; Stohl, Andreas; Eckhardt, Sabine

doi:10.5194/acp-2018-514

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 62 publications

(86 reference statements)

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“…Changes in the free-energy barrier due to increased pollution concentrations may have implications for arctic cloud lifetime by triggering precipitation, and thereby altering cloud radiative properties by making them 10.1029/2018GL079873 thermally and optically less opaque (Morrison et al, 2011;Zamora et al, 2018). Mixed-phase clouds are common in the Arctic (Mioche et al, 2015;Morrison et al, 2011), and their radiative properties play an important role in determining the rate of arctic warming (Cesana et al, 2012;Shupe, 2011;Uchiyama et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10.1029/2018GL079873 thermally and optically less opaque (Morrison et al, 2011;Zamora et al, 2018). Mixed-phase clouds are common in the Arctic (Mioche et al, 2015;Morrison et al, 2011), and their radiative properties play an important role in determining the rate of arctic warming (Cesana et al, 2012;Shupe, 2011;Uchiyama et al, 2014).…”

Section: Geophysical Research Lettersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Arctic, climate change is both more intense and more uncertain than at midlatitudes (Boucher et al, 2013;Stephens, 2005). Cloud phase transitions play a key role in how clouds affect the arctic surface radiation balance (Choi et al, 2014;Curry et al, 1996;Garrett et al, 2009;Kay & L'Ecuyer, 2013;Komurcu et al, 2014;Zamora et al, 2018). Ice nuclei can limit cloud lifetime by triggering frozen precipitation as snow and ice clouds tend to be less optically and thermally opaque.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for Changes in Arctic Cloud Phase Due to Long‐Range Pollution Transport

Coopman

Riédi

Finch

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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Reduced precipitation rates allow pollution within air parcels from midlatitudes to reach the Arctic without being scavenged. We use satellite and tracer transport model data sets to evaluate the degree of supercooling required for 50% of a chosen ensemble of low-level clouds to be in the ice phase for a given meteorological regime. Our results suggest that smaller cloud droplet effective radii are related to higher required amounts of supercooling but that, overall, pollution plumes from fossil fuel combustion lower the degree of supercooling that is required for freezing by approximately 4 ∘ C. The relationship between anthropogenic plumes and the freezing transition temperature from liquid to ice remains to be explained.Plain Language Summary Anthropogenic pollution plumes from midlatitudes can be transported long distances to the Arctic. In this study, we analyze the impact of these plumes on how easily liquid clouds over the Arctic Ocean freeze by using a novel combination of satellite measurements and a pollution transport model. We find that liquid clouds in polluted air switch phase to become ice clouds at temperatures that are 4 ∘ C higher they would otherwise in pristine air. Because ice clouds in the Arctic precipitate more easily than liquid clouds, the potential is that distant industrial pollution sources are acting to reduce arctic cloud life time.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geophysical Research Lettersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for Changes in Arctic Cloud Phase Due to Long‐Range Pollution Transport

Coopman

Riédi

Finch

et al. 2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Code to reproduce the figures is archived at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11247136 (Zamora, 2024). Data underlying the figures are archived at the Arctic Data Center (Zamora & Kahn, 2024) (doi:10.18739/A29S1KN0T, accessed 22 May 2024).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Dust-driven cloud phase changes may impact summertime cooling over Arctic sea ice

Zamora,

Kahn

2024

Preprint

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Cloud phase has important impacts on Arctic surface temperatures, and there is substantial circumstantial evidence that dust aerosols have strong impacts on cloud phase over the Arctic on a regional scale. We used seven years of satellite observations and model and reanalysis products to control for co-varying meteorology, and to assess how dust and other aerosols impact cloud phase over the summertime sea ice. We focus on clouds at 3 km, where dust modeling is most accurate. Dust aerosols caused about 4.5% of clouds below -15 °C to change phase, with smaller effects at higher temperatures. Sulfate has a smaller impact on cloud phase. Dust is associated with cloud-mediated surface cooling of up to a 6.3 W m-2 below single-layer clouds at ~3 km in June. Lastly, we discuss the optimal meteorological conditions for future in situ studies to maximize insight into the mechanisms driving the observed dust effects.

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A satellite-based estimate of aerosol-cloud microphysical effects over the Arctic Ocean

Cited by 2 publications

References 62 publications

Evidence for Changes in Arctic Cloud Phase Due to Long‐Range Pollution Transport

Evidence for Changes in Arctic Cloud Phase Due to Long‐Range Pollution Transport

Dust-driven cloud phase changes may impact summertime cooling over Arctic sea ice

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