the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
The Impact of Aerosol on Cloud Water: A Heuristic Perspective
Abstract. Aerosol-cloud interactions modulate the role of clouds in Earth's climate. We derive, evaluate, and apply a simple model to understand aerosol-mediated cloud water adjustments in stratocumulus based on only two prognostic equations for the integrated cloud water L and droplet number concentration N. The model is solved numerically and analytically, and agrees well with documented large-eddy simulation data and satellite retrievals. A tight relationship between adjustments at low and high N is found, revealing the influence of non-precipitation processes (primarily entrainment) on adjustments in precipitating clouds. Furthermore, it is shown that adjustments in non-precipitating clouds tend to be positively biased by external L or N perturbations, while adjustments in precipitating clouds are barely susceptible. By deliberately reducing the complexity of the underlying system, this study constitutes a way forward to facilitate process-level understanding of cloud water adjustments.
- Preprint
(6438 KB) - Metadata XML
-
Supplement
(1653 KB) - BibTeX
- EndNote
Status: open (until 02 Aug 2024)
Viewed
HTML | XML | Total | Supplement | BibTeX | EndNote | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
149 | 61 | 8 | 218 | 15 | 5 | 4 |
- HTML: 149
- PDF: 61
- XML: 8
- Total: 218
- Supplement: 15
- BibTeX: 5
- EndNote: 4
Viewed (geographical distribution)
Country | # | Views | % |
---|
Total: | 0 |
HTML: | 0 |
PDF: | 0 |
XML: | 0 |
- 1