Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3149
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3149
04 Jan 2024
 | 04 Jan 2024

Understanding Aerosol-Cloud Interactions in a Single-Column Model: Intercomparison with Process-Level Models and Evaluation against ACTIVATE Field Measurements

Shuaiqi Tang, Hailong Wang, Xiang-Yu Li, Jingyi Chen, Armin Sorooshian, Xubin Zeng, Ewan Crosbie, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Christiane Voigt

Abstract. Marine boundary-layer clouds play a critical role in the Earth’s energy balance. Their microphysical and radiative properties are highly impacted by ambient aerosols and dynamical forcings. In this study, we evaluate the representation of these clouds and related aerosol-cloud interactions processes in the single-column version of E3SM climate model (SCM), against field measurements collected during the NASA ACTIVATE campaign over the western North Atlantic, as well as intercompare with high-resolution process-level models. Results show that E3SM-SCM, driven by the ERA5 reanalysis, reproduces the cloud properties as good as the high-resolution WRF simulations. For stronger surface forcings combined with a weaker subsidence taken from a WRF cloud-resolving simulation, both E3SM-SCM and WRF large-eddy simulation produce thicker clouds. This indicates that a proper combination of large-scale dynamics, sub-grid scale parameterizations, and model configurations is needed to obtain optimal performance of cloud simulations. In the E3SM-SCM sensitivity tests with fixed dynamics but perturbed aerosol properties, higher aerosol number concentration leads to more numerous but smaller cloud droplets, resulting in a stronger shortwave cloud forcing (i.e., stronger radiative cooling). This apparent Twomey effect is consistent with prior climate model studies. Cloud liquid water path shows a weakly positive relation with cloud droplet number concentration associated with precipitation suppression, which is different from the nonlinear relation approximated from prior observations and E3SM studies, warranting future investigation. Our findings indicate that the SCM framework is a key tool to bridge the gap between climate models, high-resolution models, and field observations to facilitate process-level understanding.

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

12 Sep 2024
Understanding aerosol–cloud interactions using a single-column model for a cold-air outbreak case during the ACTIVATE campaign
Shuaiqi Tang, Hailong Wang, Xiang-Yu Li, Jingyi Chen, Armin Sorooshian, Xubin Zeng, Ewan Crosbie, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10073–10092, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024, 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
We examined marine boundary-layer clouds and their interactions with aerosols in the E3SM...
Share