Complex interplay of sulfate aerosols and meteorology conditions on precipitation and latent heat vertical structure

Relationship between convective available potential energy (CAPE) and precipitation is explored in a season-long cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulation of Indian summer monsoon. The location of maximum precipitation and CAPE does not always coincide in a CRM simulation. The diurnal land surface heating is shown to have an effect on CAPE and precipitation over ocean. Convective inhibition energy is shown to have a significant effect on the location of precipitation. It is shown that mass flux parameterizations which depend on CAPE consumption do not get the location or magnitude of precipitation right at CRM resolution. It is emphasized that once the model resolution starts approaching cloud scale, the basic assumption of convective quasi-equilibrium is not sufficient and representation of organized mesoscale convective systems becomes imperative. Present-day cumulus parameterizations do not include any representation of organized mesoscale convective systems. We show that CAPE consumed by these systems not only triggers vertical motion but also contributes to horizontal motion of the system.

Effects of prescribed initial cloud droplet spectra on convective cloud and precipitation developments under different thermodynamic conditions: A modeling and observational study

Aerosols affect cloud microstructure, dynamics, and precipitation by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei with a large uncertainty for deep convective clouds (DCCs). Here, we quantify the relationships between aerosols and DCC properties after isolating aerosol impacts from meteorology based on the METEOSAT geostationary satellite and Modern‐Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application Version 2 (MERRA‐2) reanalysis data. Results show that fine aerosols (radius <1 µm), which serve as the best proxy for CCN from MERRA‐2, exhibit the strongest aerosol invigoration for DCC compared with aerosol optical depth and coarse aerosols. Overall, added fine aerosols result in colder cloud top temperatures (CTTs), longer lifetime, and more rainfall amounts, especially over land. As CTT decreases monotonically with added aerosols, cloud lifetime and rainfall amount reach a maximum at aerosol loading of 5 and 1.5 µg/m3 over land and ocean, respectively. Added precipitable water (PW) vapor and convective available potential energy (CAPE) are conducive to the development of more vigorous DCC. For fixed PW and CAPE, CTT decreases by up to −12.2°C ± 0.5°C with fine aerosol concentration over land and up to −4.4°C ± 1.0°C over ocean. The DCC lifetime is lengthened by a factor of 1.3 ± 0.1 from clean condition to optimal aerosol loading over land. A respective enhancement in rainfall amounts over land is indicated by a factor of 2.6 ± 0.4. The decreases in lifetime and rainfall beyond the optimal aerosol concentration are likely due to less aerosol wet scavenging from smaller and less rainy DCCs. The increases in the lifetime and rainfall amounts over ocean are much weaker.

Time series data of lightning flash rates, aerosol optical depth (AOD), surface relative humidity, potential temperature, and convective available potential energy (CAPE) for 14 consecutive summers (2001–2014) over central eastern parts of China (32.5°–40°N, 100°–120°E) have been analyzed to investigate the impact of aerosol on the lightning flash rate. The Pearson correlation and the partial correlation are used to study the linear correlations between the lightning flash rate and AOD, potential temperature, surface relative humidity, and CAPE. The results show that the lightning flash rate is positively correlated (r = .64) with AOD under relatively clean conditions (AOD < 1.0), which may result from aerosol microphysical effect. In the situation of high aerosol concentration (AOD > 1.0), the correlation between AOD and lightning flash rate is not obvious (r = −.06), which may be due to the radiation effect of aerosol and the decrease of the number of large ice particles caused by excessive aerosol concentration. CAPE and surface relative humidity are both positively correlated with the lightning flash rates under relatively clean (AOD < 1.0) and relatively polluted (AOD > 1.0) conditions. Potential temperature is moderate positively correlated with the lightning flash rate under relatively clean conditions (r = .51, AOD < 1.0) but shows no significant linear relationship under relatively polluted conditions (r = .07, AOD > 1.0).

Abstract. The effect of aerosols on lightning has been noted in many case studies, but much less is known about the long-term impact, relative importance of dynamics–thermodynamics versus aerosol, and any difference by different types of aerosols. Attempts are made to tackle all these factors, whose distinct roles are discovered by analyzing 11-year datasets of lightning, aerosol loading and composition, and dynamic–thermodynamic data from satellite and model reanalysis. Variations in the lightning rate are analyzed with respect to changes in dynamic–thermodynamic variables and indices such as the convective available potential energy (CAPE) and vertical wind shear. In general, lightning has strong diurnal and seasonal variations, peaking in the afternoon and during the summer. The lightning flash rate is much higher in moist central Africa than in dry northern Africa presumably because of the combined influences of surface heating, CAPE, relative humidity (RH), and aerosol type. In both regions, the lightning flash rate changes with aerosol optical depth (AOD) in a boomerang shape: first increasing with AOD, tailing off around AOD = 0.3, and then behaving differently, i.e., decreasing for dust and flattening for smoke aerosols. The deviation is arguably caused by the tangled influences of different thermodynamics (in particular humidity and CAPE) and aerosol type between the two regions. In northern Africa, the two branches of the opposite trends seem to echo the different dominant influences of the aerosol microphysical effect and the aerosol radiative effect that are more pronounced under low and high aerosol loading conditions, respectively. Under low-AOD conditions, the aerosol microphysical effect more likely invigorates deep convection. This may gradually yield to the suppression effect as AOD increases, leading to more and smaller cloud droplets that are highly susceptible to evaporation under the dry conditions of northern Africa. For smoke aerosols in moist central Africa, the aerosol invigoration effect can be sustained across the entire range of AOD by the high humidity and CAPE. This, plus a potential heating effect of the smoke layer, jointly offsets the suppression of convection due to the radiative cooling at the surface by smoke aerosols. Various analyses were done that tend to support this hypothesis.

Lightning is one of the natural disasters that cause significant financial losses and even fatalities. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of lightning and related factors take appropriate preventive and mitigation measures. This work investigated the influence of aerosols and atmospheric thermodynamic factors on lightning in Java Island using 16 years of data (1998 - 2013) from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Aerosol data were obtained from the Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2). Furthermore, convective available potential energy (CAPE) and potential temperature data were taken from the fifth-generation ECMWF atmospheric reanalysis (ERA-5) data. The intensity of lightning strikes in the western part of Java, such as Jakarta and Banten, is higher than in the eastern part, corresponding to the distribution pattern of aerosols, especially sulfate aerosols, sea salt aerosols, and black carbon aerosols. Sea salt aerosols have an inverse relationship with lightning, as these coarse-sized aerosols tend to inhibit convection. An increase in CAPE and potential temperature generally leads to higher lightning intensity. However, in cases where CAPE values are extremely high, such as in Jakarta, the intensity of lightning decreases. A similar pattern can be observed with potential temperature. An inverse relationship between lightning and potential temperature is observed in regions at higher elevations. The peak time for CAPE and potential temperature coincide with the peak intensity of lightning, which typically occurs during the rainy season, while the peak of AOD occurs earlier, during the pre-monsoon (September-October-November). The highest values of sea salt AOD are observed during the dry season (June-July-August) when lightning is minimal. These variations in peak times are particularly evident in the western regions of Java, where AOD values are high. The findings of this study can aid in lightning disaster mitigation efforts on Java Island. HIGHLIGHTS The intensity of lightning strikes in the western part of Java is higher than in the eastern part Sea salt aerosols have an inverse relationship with lightning, as these coarse-sized aerosols tend to inhibit convection An increase in CAPE and potential temperature generally leads to higher lightning intensity The peak time for CAPE and potential temperature coincide with the peak intensity of lightning The highest values of sea salt AOD are observed during the dry season when lightning is minimal GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Abstract. Large-scale measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are difficult to obtain on a routine basis, whereas aerosol optical quantities are more readily available. This study investigates the relationship between CCN and aerosol optical quantities for some distinct aerosol types using extensive observational data collected at multiple Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility (CRF) sites around the world. The influences of relative humidity (RH), aerosol hygroscopicity (fRH) and single scattering albedo (SSA) on the relationship are analyzed. Better relationships are found between aerosol optical depth (AOD) and CCN at the Southern Great Plains (US), Ganges Valley (India) and Black Forest sites (Germany) than those at the Graciosa Island (the Azores) and Niamey (Niger) sites, where sea salt and dust aerosols dominate, respectively. In general, the correlation between AOD and CCN decreases as the wavelength of the AOD measurement increases, suggesting that AOD at a shorter wavelength is a better proxy for CCN. The correlation is significantly improved if aerosol index (AI) is used together with AOD. The highest correlation exists between CCN and aerosol scattering coefficients (σsp) and scattering AI measured in situ. The CCN–AOD (AI) relationship deteriorates with increasing RH. If RH exceeds 75%, the relationship where AOD is used as a proxy for CCN becomes invalid, whereas a tight σsp–CCN relationship exists for dry particles. Aerosol hygroscopicity has a weak impact on the σsp–CCN relationship. Particles with low SSA are generally associated with higher CCN concentrations, suggesting that SSA affects the relationship between CCN concentration and aerosol optical quantities. It may thus be used as a constraint to reduce uncertainties in the relationship. A significant increase in σsp and decrease in CCN with increasing SSA is observed, leading to a significant decrease in their ratio (CCN / σsp) with increasing SSA. Parameterized relationships are developed for estimating CCN, which account for RH, particle size, and SSA.

ABSTRACTLightning, rainfall, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and convection variabilities in the monsoon zone of India are studied during the period 2001–2012. Accumulated rain is used to study rainfall and the parameters surface temperature, convective available potential energy (CAPE), and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) are used to study convection. Principal component analysis (PCA) is performed for the first time in order to understand the variability and interrelations among the parameters lightning (flash rates derived from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite [TRMM] Lightning Imaging Sensor data products), rainfall, AOD, and convection (surface temperature, CAPE, and OLR), in the monsoon zone of India. The results of PCA show that lightning is very well correlated with CAPE and surface temperature. Lightning is poorly correlated with AOD and accumulated rain. This indicates that buoyancy due to heating of land during daytime is the best predictor for lightning occurrence in the monsoon zone. Very good correlation between AOD and accumulated rain suggests the significance of AOD in the monsoon zone precipitation.

Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) and Convective Inhibition (CIN), commonly used measures of the instability and inhibition within a vertical column of the atmosphere, serve as a proxy for estimating convection potential and updraft strength for an air parcel. In operational forecasting, CAPE and CIN are typically derived from radiosonde thermodynamic profiles, launched only twice daily, and supplemented by model-simulated equivalent values. This study uses remote sensing observations to derive CAPE and CIN from continuous data, expanding upon previous research by evaluating the performance of both passive and active profiling systems’ CAPE/CIN against in situ radiosonde CAPE/CIN. CAPE and CIN values are calculated from Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), Microwave Radiometer (MWR), Raman LiDAR, and Differential Absorption LiDAR (DIAL) systems. Among passive sensors, results show significantly greater accuracy in CAPE and CIN from AERI than MWR. Incorporating water vapor profiles from active LiDAR systems further improves CAPE values when compared to radiosonde data, although the impact on CIN is less significant. Beyond the direct capability of calculating CAPE, this approach enables evaluation of the various relationships between the water vapor mixing ratio, CAPE, cloud development, and moisture transport.

The impacts of aerosol and thermodynamics on electrification and lightning activities have been investigated in detail using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled with a double‐moment microphysics parameterization and an explicit electrification lightning scheme. To obtain a varied combination of convective available potential energy (CAPE) values and aerosol concentrations, a sounding was modified consistently and initiated with five sets of aerosol concentrations that served as cloud condensation nuclei. The simulated electric processes respond to the varying dynamical and microphysical characteristics associated with the different CAPE and aerosol conditions. Under high CAPE circumstances, the augmentation of ice‐phase particle leads to the enhancement of non‐inductive charging primarily through the dynamic processes. Increased aerosol content further invigorates the electrification through microphysical processes. Elevated aerosol loading under low CAPE conditions increases cloud droplet and ice crystal numbers. Larger graupel particle size further leads to the enhanced electric intensity and lightning discharges.

Impact of aerosols on atmospheric electrification over East and West Africa

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> The potential impacts of dust aerosols and atmospheric convective available potential energy (CAPE) on the vertical development of precipitating clouds in southeastern China (20–30<span class="inline-formula">^∘</span> N, 110–125<span class="inline-formula">^∘</span> E) in June, July, and August from 2000 to 2013 were studied using multisource observations. In southeastern China, heavy-dust conditions are coupled with strong northerly winds that transport air masses containing high concentrations of mineral dust particles, with cold temperatures, and with strong wind shear. This leads to weaker CAPE on dusty days compared with that on pristine days. Based on satellite observations, precipitating drops under dusty conditions grow faster in the middle atmospheric layers (with a temperature of between <span class="inline-formula">−5</span> and <span class="inline-formula">+</span>2 <span class="inline-formula">^∘</span>C) but slower in the upper and lower layers compared with their pristine counterparts. For a given precipitation top height (PTH), the precipitation rate under dusty conditions is lower in the upper layer but higher in the middle and lower layers. Moreover, the associated latent heating rate released by precipitation in the middle layer is higher. The precipitation top temperature (PTT) shows a fairly good linear relationship with the near-surface rain rate (NSRR): the linear regression slope between the PTT and NSRR is stable under dusty and pristine conditions. However, the PTT<span class="inline-formula">₀</span> (the PTT related to rain onset) at the onset of precipitation is highly affected by both the CAPE and aerosol conditions. On pristine days, a stronger CAPE facilitates the vertical development of precipitation and leads to a decrease in PTT<span class="inline-formula">₀</span>, at a rate of <span class="inline-formula">−0.65</span> <span class="inline-formula">^∘</span>C per 100 J kg<span class="inline-formula">^−1</span> of CAPE for deep convective precipitation (with a variation of 15 %) and at a rate of <span class="inline-formula">−0.41</span> <span class="inline-formula">^∘</span>C per 100 J kg<span class="inline-formula">^−1</span> of CAPE for stratiform precipitation (with variation of 12 %). After removing the impacts of CAPE on PTT, dust aerosols led to an increase in PTT<span class="inline-formula">₀</span>, at a rate of <span class="inline-formula">+</span>4.19 <span class="inline-formula">^∘</span>C per unit aerosol optical depth (AOD) for deep convective precipitation and at a rate of <span class="inline-formula">+</span>0.35 <span class="inline-formula">^∘</span>C per unit AOD for stratiform precipitation. This study showed clear evidence that meteorological conditions and aerosol conditions combine to impact the vertical development of precipitation clouds. A quantitative estimation of the sensitivity of PTT to CAPE and dust was also provided.

The concept of the potential-energy convertibility (PEC) is proposed as a generalization of convective available potential energy (CAPE). It is defined as a vertical integral of buoyancy weighted by a non-dimensional normalized vertical momentum. This is a measure of convertibility of potential energy into kinetic energy in the sense that the actual conversion rate is recovered when PEC evaluated by the convective-scale local buoyancy and vertical momentum, as available from cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulations, is multiplied by the normalization factor for the vertical momentum. It reduces to CAPE, when the standard parcel-lifted buoyancy and a unit value for the normalized vertical momentum are used. It is equivalent to Arakawas–Schubert's cloud work function, when the buoyancy and the vertical momentum profile for an entraining plume are used. PEC evaluated from locally defined buoyancy and vertical momentum in CRM simulations correlates better with the convective precipitation than CAPE. The evaluation of PEC within a convective parametrization may be possible with an appropriate definition of the effective entrainment rate, for example, which is expected to improve CAPE-based convective parametrizations. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society

تغییرات در غلظت هواویزها بخصوص در جو مناطق شهری و صنعتی، یکی از عوامل اصلی در تغییر خرد فیزیک ابرها می باشند. این مطالعه در محدوده زمانی سالهای 2003-2012 میلادی و با استفاده از داده ها و اطلاعات، هواویز، خردفیزیک ابر و رطوبت سنجنده مادیس ماهواره آکوا برای شهر تهران انجام شده است. در این مقاله، هدف اول، تعیین بهترین جایگزین از بین عمق نوری هواویز(AOD) و شاخص هواویز (AI) برای هسته های میعان ابر (CCN) می باشد. دوم، تاثیرات هواویزها بر روی خردفیزیک ابر در شهر تهران مورد بررسی قرار می گیرد. برای بررسی خردفیزیک ابرها، ابرهای نازک و پایین یعنی ابرهای با میانگین فشار بالای ابر بیشتر از 800 هکتوپاسکال برای محدوده شهر تهران، بررسی شده اند. دلیل انتخاب ابرهای نازک و پایین به عنوان نماینده ابرهای تهران، کاهش خطاهای ناشی از بازیابی داده های سنجنده مادیس می باشد. نتایج بدست آمده نشان می دهند که، شاخص هواویز جایگزین خیلی بهتری برای CCNها در شهر تهران می باشد. مقدار هواویزها با فشار بالای ابر و دمای بالای ابر همبستگی مثبت و با کسر ابرناکی، ضخامت نوری ابر و مسیر آب ابر همبستگی منفی داشتند. بین شعاع موثر قطرک ابر و شاخص هواویز همبستگی منفی و معنی دار با همبستگی اسپیرمن و عدم همبستگی با ضریب همبستگی پیرسون مشاهده شد. نتایج همبستگی ها نشان می دهند که افزایش هواویزها در شهر تهران در بسیاری از مواقع باعث وقوع پدیده فرابارورسازی و کاهش ابرناکی در این 10 سال اخیر شده است. همبستگی های بین خود کمیت های خردساختار ابر، کاملا با مطالعات تئوری مطابقت دارند.

Abstract. With low concentrations of tropospheric aerosol, the Southern Ocean offers a “natural laboratory” for studies of aerosol–cloud interactions. Aerosols over the Southern Ocean are produced from biogenic activity in the ocean, which generates sulfate aerosol via dimethylsulfide (DMS) oxidation, and from strong winds and waves that lead to bubble bursting and sea spray emission. Here, we evaluate the representation of Southern Ocean aerosols in the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 3, Global Atmosphere 7.1 (HadGEM3-GA7.1) chemistry–climate model. Compared with aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations from two satellite instruments (the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS-Aqua c6.1, and the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer, MISR), the model simulates too-high AOD during winter and too-low AOD during summer. By switching off DMS emission in the model, we show that sea spray aerosol is the dominant contributor to AOD during winter. In turn, the simulated sea spray aerosol flux depends on near-surface wind speed. By examining MODIS AOD as a function of wind speed from the ERA-Interim reanalysis and comparing it with the model, we show that the sea spray aerosol source function in HadGEM3-GA7.1 overestimates the wind speed dependency. We test a recently developed sea spray aerosol source function derived from measurements made on a Southern Ocean research voyage in 2018. In this source function, the wind speed dependency of the sea spray aerosol flux is less than in the formulation currently implemented in HadGEM3-GA7.1. The new source function leads to good agreement between simulated and observed wintertime AODs over the Southern Ocean; however, it reveals partially compensating errors in DMS-derived AOD. While previous work has tested assumptions regarding the seawater climatology or sea–air flux of DMS, we test the sensitivity of simulated AOD, cloud condensation nuclei and cloud droplet number concentration to three atmospheric sulfate chemistry schemes. The first scheme adds DMS oxidation by halogens and the other two test a recently developed sulfate chemistry scheme for the marine troposphere; one tests gas-phase chemistry only, while the second adds extra aqueous-phase sulfate reactions. We show how simulated sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid profiles over the Southern Ocean change as a result and how the number concentration and particle size of the soluble Aitken, accumulation and coarse aerosol modes are affected. The new DMS chemistry scheme leads to a 20 % increase in the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei and cloud droplets, which improves agreement with observations. Our results highlight the importance of atmospheric chemistry for simulating aerosols and clouds accurately over the Southern Ocean.