Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1720
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1720
17 Aug 2023
 | 17 Aug 2023

Effects of Intermittent Aerosol Forcing on the Stratocumulus-to-Cumulus Transition

Prasanth Prabhakaran, Fabian Hoffmann, and Graham Feingold

Abstract. We explore the role of intermittent aerosol forcing (e.g., ship tracks, or injections associated with marine cloud brightening) on the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition (SCT). We simulate a three-day Lagrangian trajectory in the north-east Pacific using a large-eddy simulation model coupled to a bin-emulating, two-moment, bulk microphysics scheme that captures the evolution of aerosol and cloud droplet concentrations. By varying the background aerosol concentration, we consider two baseline systems - pristine and polluted. We perturb the baseline cases with a range of aerosol injection strategies by varying the injection rate, number of injectors, and the timing of the aerosol injection. Our results show that aerosol dispersal is more efficient under pristine conditions due to a transverse circulation created by the gradients in precipitation rates across the plume track. Furthermore, we see that a substantial enhancement in the cloud radiative effect (CRE) is evident in both systems. In the polluted system, the albedo effect (smaller but more numerous droplets causing brighter clouds at constant liquid water) is the dominant contributor in the initial two days. The contributions from liquid water path (LWP) and cloud fraction adjustments are important on the third and fourth day, respectively. In the pristine system, cloud fraction adjustments are the dominant contributor to the CRE on all three days, followed by the albedo effect. In both these systems, we see that the SCT is delayed due to the injection of aerosol, and the extent of the delay is proportional to the number of particles injected into the marine boundary layer.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
Share

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

13 Feb 2024
Effects of intermittent aerosol forcing on the stratocumulus-to-cumulus transition
Prasanth Prabhakaran, Fabian Hoffmann, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1919–1937, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1919-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1919-2024, 2024
Short summary
Download

The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

Short summary
In this study, we explore the impact of deliberate aerosol perturbation in the in the North-East...
Share