Four years of continuous surface aerosol measurements from the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed site

Sheridan, Patrick J.; Delene, David J.; Ogren, J. A.

doi:10.1029/2001jd000785

Cited by 226 publications

(245 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…When combined with parameter values for aerosol size distributions noted above (Sect. 2.2), the resulting profile of sulphate aerosol reproduced accurately the real concentrations of aerosol particles of all species, both at sizes >0.01 µm and >0.1 µm, measured near the ground in Oklahoma during ARM-SGP-1997 (Sheridan et al, 2001).…”

Section: Design Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Potential impacts from biological aerosols on ensembles of continental clouds simulated numerically

et al. 2009

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Abstract. An aerosol-cloud modeling framework is described to simulate the activation of ice particles and droplets by biological aerosol particles, such as airborne icenucleation active (INA) bacteria. It includes the empirical parameterisation of heterogeneous ice nucleation and a semi-prognostic aerosol component, which have been incorporated into a cloud-system resolving model (CSRM) with double-moment bulk microphysics. The formation of cloud liquid by soluble material coated on these partially insoluble organic aerosols is represented. It determines their partial removal from deep convective clouds by accretion onto precipitation in the cloud model. This "aerosol-cloud model" is validated for diverse cases of deep convection with contrasting aerosol conditions, against satellite, ground-based and aircraft observations.Simulations are performed with the aerosol-cloud model for a month-long period of summertime convective activity over Oklahoma. It includes three cases of continental deep convection simulated previously by Phillips and . Elevated concentrations of insoluble organic aerosol, boosted by a factor of 100 beyond their usual values for this continental region, are found to influence significantly the following quantities: (1) the average numbers and sizes of ice crystals and droplets in the clouds; (2) the horizontal cloud coverage in the free troposphere; (3) preCorrespondence to: V. T. J. Phillips (vaughanp@hawaii.edu) cipitation at the ground; and (4) incident solar insolation at the surface. This factor of 100 is plausible for natural fluctuations of the concentration of insoluble organic aerosol, in view of variability of cell concentrations for airborne bacteria seen by Lindemann et al. (1982).In nature, such boosting of the insoluble organic aerosol loading could arise from enhanced emissions of biological aerosol particles from a land surface. Surface wetness and solar insolation at the ground are meteorological quantities known to influence rates of growth of certain biological particles (e.g. bacteria). Their rates of emission into the atmosphere must depend on these same quantities, in addition to surface wind speed, turbulence and convection. Finally, the present study is the first attempt at evaluating the impacts from biological aerosols on mesoscale cloud ensembles in the literature.

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Section: Design Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 76%

Potential impacts from biological aerosols on ensembles of continental clouds simulated numerically

et al. 2009

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“…and Southern Great Plains (SGP,36.61 • N 97.49 • W; 315 m a.s.l.). Surface in situ measurements and AERONET column measurements have been made at both locations since the mid-1990s (e.g., Delene and Ogren, 2002;Sheridan et al, 2001;Holben et al, 1998). Weekly to twice-weekly flights measuring in situ vertical profiles of aerosol optical properties over these two sites were made for a subset of the years of ground-based observations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of AOD, AAOD and column single scattering albedo from AERONET retrievals and in situ profiling measurements

et al. 2017

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Abstract. Here we present new results comparing aerosol optical depth (AOD), aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and column single scattering albedo (SSA) obtained from in situ vertical profile measurements with AERONET ground-based remote sensing from two rural, continental sites in the US. The profiles are closely matched in time (within ±3 h) and space (within 15 km) with the AERONET retrievals. We have used Level 1.5 inversion retrievals when there was a valid Level 2 almucantar retrieval in order to be able to compare AAOD and column SSA below AERONET's recommended loading constraint (AOD > 0.4 at 440 nm). While there is reasonable agreement for the AOD comparisons, the direct comparisons of in situderived to AERONET-retrieved AAOD (or SSA) reveal that AERONET retrievals yield higher aerosol absorption than obtained from the in situ profiles for the low aerosol optical depth conditions prevalent at the two study sites. However, it should be noted that the majority of SSA comparisons for AOD 440 > 0.2 are, nonetheless, within the reported SSA uncertainty bounds. The observation that, relative to in situ measurements, AERONET inversions exhibit increased absorption potential at low AOD values is generally consistent with other published AERONET-in situ comparisons across a range of locations, atmospheric conditions and AOD values. This systematic difference in the comparisons suggests a bias in one or both of the methods, but we cannot assess whether the AERONET retrievals are biased towards high absorption or the in situ measurements are biased low. Based on the discrepancy between the AERONET and in situ values, we conclude that scaling modeled black carbon concentrations upwards to match AERONET retrievals of AAOD should be approached with caution as it may lead to aerosol absorption overestimates in regions of low AOD. Both AERONET retrievals and in situ measurements suggest there is a systematic relationship between SSA and aerosol amount (AOD or aerosol light scattering) -specifically that SSA decreases at lower aerosol loading. This implies that the fairly common assumption that AERONET SSA values retrieved at high-AOD conditions can be used to obtain AAOD at low-AOD conditions may not be valid.

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“…These concentrations are representative of clean, moderate, and polluted concentrations of accumulation mode aerosol particles at the ARM SGP site, respectively (Sheridan et al 2001). The simulations will be referred to as BIN100, BIN400, and BIN1600.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of the Shape of Cloud Droplet Size Distributions in Shallow Cumulus Clouds. Part I: Bin Microphysics Simulations

Igel

Heever

2017

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences

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In this two-part study, the relationships between the width of the cloud droplet size distribution and the microphysical processes and cloud characteristics of nonprecipitating shallow cumulus clouds are investigated using large-eddy simulations. In Part I, simulations are run with a bin microphysics scheme and the relative widths (standard deviation divided by mean diameter) of the simulated cloud droplet size distributions are calculated. They reveal that the value of the relative width is higher and less variable in the subsaturated regions of the cloud than in the supersaturated regions owing to both the evaporation process itself and enhanced mixing and entrainment of environmental air. Unlike in some previous studies, the relative width is not found to depend strongly on the initial aerosol concentration or mean droplet concentration. Nonetheless, local values of the relative width are found to positively correlate with local values of the droplet concentrations, particularly in the supersaturated regions of clouds. In general, the distributions become narrower as the local droplet concentration increases, which is consistent with the difference in relative width between the supersaturated and subsaturated cloud regions and with physically based expectations. Traditional parameterizations for the relative width (or shape parameter, a related quantity) of cloud droplet size distributions in bulk microphysics schemes are based on cloud mean values, but the bin simulation results shown here demonstrate that more appropriate parameterizations should be based on the relationship between the local values of the relative width and the cloud droplet concentration.

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Four years of continuous surface aerosol measurements from the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed site

Cited by 226 publications

References 19 publications

Potential impacts from biological aerosols on ensembles of continental clouds simulated numerically

Potential impacts from biological aerosols on ensembles of continental clouds simulated numerically

Comparison of AOD, AAOD and column single scattering albedo from AERONET retrievals and in situ profiling measurements

The Importance of the Shape of Cloud Droplet Size Distributions in Shallow Cumulus Clouds. Part I: Bin Microphysics Simulations

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