Increase In Liquid Water Path Research Articles

Cloud albedo changes in response to anthropogenic sulfate and non-sulfate aerosol forcings in CMIP5 models

Abstract. The effects of different aerosol types on cloud albedo are analysed using the linear relation between total albedo and cloud fraction found on a monthly mean scale in regions of subtropical marine stratocumulus clouds and the influence of simulated aerosol variations on this relation. Model experiments from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) are used to separately study the responses to increases in sulfate, non-sulfate and all anthropogenic aerosols. A cloud brightening on the month-to-month scale due to variability in the background aerosol is found to dominate even in the cases where anthropogenic aerosols are added. The aerosol composition is of importance for this cloud brightening, that is thereby region dependent. There is indication that absorbing aerosols to some extent counteract the cloud brightening but scene darkening with increasing aerosol burden is generally not supported, even in regions where absorbing aerosols dominate. Month-to-month cloud albedo variability also confirms the importance of liquid water content for cloud albedo. Regional, monthly mean cloud albedo is found to increase with the addition of anthropogenic aerosols and more so with sulfate than non-sulfate. Changes in cloud albedo between experiments are related to changes in cloud water content as well as droplet size distribution changes, so that models with large increases in liquid water path and/or cloud droplet number show large cloud albedo increases with increasing aerosol. However, no clear relation between model sensitivities to aerosol variations on the month-to-month scale and changes in cloud albedo due to changed aerosol burden is found.

Why do general circulation models overestimate the aerosol cloud lifetime effect? A case study comparing CAM5 and a CRM

Abstract. Observation-based studies have shown that the aerosol cloud lifetime effect or the increase of cloud liquid water path (LWP) with increased aerosol loading may have been overestimated in climate models. Here, we simulate shallow warm clouds on 27 May 2011 at the southern Great Plains (SGP) measurement site established by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program using a single-column version of a global climate model (Community Atmosphere Model or CAM) and a cloud resolving model (CRM). The LWP simulated by CAM increases substantially with aerosol loading while that in the CRM does not. The increase of LWP in CAM is caused by a large decrease of the autoconversion rate when cloud droplet number increases. In the CRM, the autoconversion rate is also reduced, but this is offset or even outweighed by the increased evaporation of cloud droplets near the cloud top, resulting in an overall decrease in LWP. Our results suggest that climate models need to include the dependence of cloud top growth and the evaporation/condensation process on cloud droplet number concentrations.

The source of discrepancies in aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions between GCM and A-Train retrievals

Abstract. Aerosol–cloud interactions are one of the most uncertain processes in climate models due to their nonlinear complexity. A key complexity arises from the possibility that clouds can respond to perturbed aerosols in two opposite ways, as characterized by the traditional “cloud lifetime” hypothesis and more recent “buffered system” hypothesis. Their importance in climate simulations remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the response of the liquid water path (LWP) to aerosol perturbations for warm clouds from the perspective of general circulation model (GCM) and A-Train remote sensing, through process-oriented model evaluations. A systematic difference is found in the LWP response between the model results and observations. The model results indicate a near-global uniform increase of LWP with increasing aerosol loading, while the sign of the response of the LWP from the A-Train varies from region to region. The satellite-observed response of the LWP is closely related to meteorological and/or macrophysical factors, in addition to the microphysics. The model does not reproduce this variability of cloud susceptibility (i.e., sensitivity of LWP to perturbed aerosols) because the parameterization of the autoconversion process assumes only suppression of rain formation in response to increased cloud droplet number, and does not consider macrophysical aspects that serve as a mechanism for the negative responses of the LWP via enhancements of evaporation and precipitation. Model biases are also found in the precipitation microphysics, which suggests that the model generates rainwater readily even when little cloud water is present. This essentially causes projections of unrealistically frequent and light rain, with high cloud susceptibilities to aerosol perturbations.

Critical transitions of stratocumulus dynamical systems due to perturbation in free-atmosphere moisture

The bi-stable behavior of stratocumulus systems is here investigated in a 3D cloud-resolving model based on vector vorticity equations (VVM). This study demonstrates the response of the stratocumulus system to small perturbations of free atmospheric moisture under specified forcings of warm sea surface temperature (SST) and weak subsidence. A critical transition, indicated by the strong decoupling and large variation of cloud properties, separates fast dynamics from slow dynamics. During the fast process governed by the thermodynamic adjustment, the liquid water path (LWP) decreases with a decreasing cloud-top entrainment rate; on the other hand, during the slow process determined by the cloud-top inversion adjustment, LWP increases. The model exhibits two coexisting (cloudy and non-cloudy) quasi-stationary states through the fast process. A key process for the bifurcation is that the non-cloudy state shows the presence of active cumulus convection that allows the destruction of stratocumulus. The results suggest that the direct entrainment drying is enhanced due to an increased moisture gradient across the inversion layer. This tends to develop more broken clouds, which is an important signal for the stratocumulus to cumulus transition. This conceptual model provides a simple framework for developing a timely switch of regime transition in the cloud parameterization in large-scale models.

Aerosol indirect effects from ground‐based retrievals over the rain shadow region in Indian subcontinent

AbstractAerosol‐induced changes in cloud microphysical and radiative properties have been studied for the first time using ground‐based and airborne observations over a semiarid rain shadow region. The study was conducted for nonprecipitating, ice‐free clouds during monsoon (July to September) and postmonsoon (October) months, when cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations over the region of interest increased monotonically and exhibited characteristics of continental origin. A multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer and microwave radiometric profiler were used to retrieve the cloud optical depth and liquid water path (LWP), respectively, from which cloud effective radius (CER) was obtained. CER showed wide variability from 10–18 µm and a decreasing trend toward the postmonsoon period. During monsoon, the estimated first aerosol indirect effect (AIE) increased from 0.01 to 0.23 with increase in LWP. AIE at different super saturations (SS) showed maximum value (significant at 95%) at 0.4% SS and higher LWP bin (250–300 g/m2). Also, statistically significant AIE values were found at 0.6% and 0.8% SSs but at lower LWP bin (200–250 g/m2). The relationship between CCN and CER showed high correlation at 0.4% SS at higher LWP bin, while at higher SSs good correlations were observed at lower LWPs. Data combined from ground‐based and aircraft observations showed dominance of microphysical effect at aerosol concentrations up to 1500 cm−3 and radiative effect at higher concentrations. This combined cloud microphysical and aerosol radiative effect is more prominent during postmonsoon period due to an increase in aerosol concentration.

Mechanisms of the Negative Shortwave Cloud Feedback in Middle to High Latitudes

Abstract Increases in cloud optical depth and liquid water path (LWP) are robust features of global warming model simulations in high latitudes, yielding a negative shortwave cloud feedback, but the mechanisms are still uncertain. Here the importance of microphysical processes for the negative optical depth feedback is assessed by perturbing temperature in the microphysics schemes of two aquaplanet models, both of which have separate prognostic equations for liquid water and ice. It is found that most of the LWP increase with warming is caused by a suppression of ice microphysical processes in mixed-phase clouds, resulting in reduced conversion efficiencies of liquid water to ice and precipitation. Perturbing the temperature-dependent phase partitioning of convective condensate also yields a small LWP increase. Together, the perturbations in large-scale microphysics and convective condensate partitioning explain more than two-thirds of the LWP response relative to a reference case with increased SSTs, and capture all of the vertical structure of the liquid water response. In support of these findings, a very robust positive relationship between monthly mean LWP and temperature in CMIP5 models and observations is shown to exist in mixed-phase cloud regions only. In models, the historical LWP sensitivity to temperature is a good predictor of the forced global warming response poleward of about 45°, although models appear to overestimate the LWP response to warming compared to observations. The results indicate that in climate models, the suppression of ice-phase microphysical processes that deplete cloud liquid water is a key driver of the LWP increase with warming and of the associated negative shortwave cloud feedback.

Mixed‐phase cloud physics and Southern Ocean cloud feedback in climate models

AbstractIncreasing optical depth poleward of 45° is a robust response to warming in global climate models. Much of this cloud optical depth increase has been hypothesized to be due to transitions from ice‐dominated to liquid‐dominated mixed‐phase cloud. In this study, the importance of liquid‐ice partitioning for the optical depth feedback is quantified for 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 models. All models show a monotonic partitioning of ice and liquid as a function of temperature, but the temperature at which ice and liquid are equally mixed (the glaciation temperature) varies by as much as 40 K across models. Models that have a higher glaciation temperature are found to have a smaller climatological liquid water path (LWP) and condensed water path and experience a larger increase in LWP as the climate warms. The ice‐liquid partitioning curve of each model may be used to calculate the response of LWP to warming. It is found that the repartitioning between ice and liquid in a warming climate contributes at least 20% to 80% of the increase in LWP as the climate warms, depending on model. Intermodel differences in the climatological partitioning between ice and liquid are estimated to contribute at least 20% to the intermodel spread in the high‐latitude LWP response in the mixed‐phase region poleward of 45°S. It is hypothesized that a more thorough evaluation and constraint of global climate model mixed‐phase cloud parameterizations and validation of the total condensate and ice‐liquid apportionment against observations will yield a substantial reduction in model uncertainty in the high‐latitude cloud response to warming.

Real-case simulations of aerosol–cloud interactions in ship tracks over the Bay of Biscay

Abstract. Ship tracks provide an ideal test bed for studying aerosol–cloud interactions (ACIs) and for evaluating their representation in model parameterisations. Regional modelling can be of particular use for this task, as this approach provides sufficient resolution to resolve the structure of the produced track including their meteorological environment whilst relying on the same formulations of parameterisations as many general circulation models. In this work we simulate a particular case of ship tracks embedded in an optically thin stratus cloud sheet which was observed by a polar orbiting satellite at 12:00 UTC on 26 January 2003 around the Bay of Biscay. The simulations, which include moving ship emissions, show that the model is indeed able to capture the structure of the track at a horizontal grid spacing of 2 km and to qualitatively capture the observed cloud response in all simulations performed. At least a doubling of the cloud optical thickness was simulated in all simulations together with an increase in cloud droplet number concentration by about 40 cm−3 (300%) and decrease in effective radius by about 5 μm (40%). Furthermore, the ship emissions lead to an increase in liquid water path in at least 25% of the track regions. We are confident in the model's ability to capture key processes of ship track formation. However, it was found that realistic ship emissions lead to unrealistic aerosol perturbations near the source regions within the simulated tracks due to grid-scale dilution and homogeneity. Combining the regional-modelling approach with comprehensive field studies could likely improve our understanding of the sensitivities and biases in ACI parameterisations, and could therefore help to constrain global ACI estimates, which strongly rely on these parameterisations.

Sensitivity of CAM5-Simulated Arctic Clouds and Radiation to Ice Nucleation Parameterization

AbstractSensitivity of Arctic clouds and radiation in the Community Atmospheric Model, version 5, to the ice nucleation process is examined by testing a new physically based ice nucleation scheme that links the variation of ice nuclei (IN) number concentration to aerosol properties. The default scheme parameterizes the IN concentration simply as a function of ice supersaturation. The new scheme leads to a significant reduction in simulated IN concentration at all latitudes while changes in cloud amounts and properties are mainly seen at high- and midlatitude storm tracks. In the Arctic, there is a considerable increase in midlevel clouds and a decrease in low-level clouds, which result from the complex interaction among the cloud macrophysics, microphysics, and large-scale environment. The smaller IN concentrations result in an increase in liquid water path and a decrease in ice water path caused by the slowdown of the Bergeron–Findeisen process in mixed-phase clouds. Overall, there is an increase in the optical depth of Arctic clouds, which leads to a stronger cloud radiative forcing (net cooling) at the top of the atmosphere. The comparison with satellite data shows that the new scheme slightly improves low-level cloud simulations over most of the Arctic but produces too many midlevel clouds. Considerable improvements are seen in the simulated low-level clouds and their properties when compared with Arctic ground-based measurements. Issues with the observations and the model–observation comparison in the Arctic region are discussed.

The Diurnal Cycle of Cloud-Top Height and Cloud Cover over the Southeastern Pacific as Observed by GOES-10

AbstractThe diurnal cycles in cloud-top height Htop and cloud fraction (CF) in the southeastern Pacific stratocumulus region were determined for October–November 2008 by analyzing data from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-10 (GOES-10) according to a diurnal/semidiurnal harmonic fitting technique. The value of Htop was obtained by applying a formula based on a linear regression of the differences between GOES-10 cloud-top temperature and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) satellite sea surface temperature, with a common 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution. A satellite liquid water path (LWP) climatology complemented this dataset.Southwestward transects of Htop and LWP anomalies reveal a coherent propagating signal from the coast in the afternoon, with a typical phase speed of 25 m s−1. This pattern is preceded by a subsidence wave that reaches its peak a few hours before the maximum in Htop and LWP anomalies. Coincident increases in LWP and Htop after the subsidence wave passes suggest that the boundary layer deepening promotes cloud thickening and increased LWP, which are likely maintained through a well-mixed boundary layer and sufficient moisture fluxes that can counteract the effect of dry air entrainment. The interference between the radiatively and subsidence wave–driven cycles gives rise to a semidiurnal cycle in Htop along the coast. While the semidiurnal amplitude is near 80 m close to the coast with a fraction of explained variance greater than 0.4, it decreases to 30 m offshore (80°W). Similar to Htop, CF also exhibits contrasting zonal differences, but with a smaller semidiurnal component. The phase of the semidiurnal harmonic resembles the subsidence propagation westward, and the noticeable land–sea breeze circulation at 26°S that extends 200 km offshore.

Development and impact of hooks of high droplet concentration on remote southeast Pacific stratocumulus

Abstract. Over the southeastern Pacific (SEP), droplet concentration (Nd) in the typically unpolluted marine stratocumulus west of 80° W (> 1000 km offshore) is periodically strongly enhanced in zonally elongated "hook"-shaped features that increase albedo. Here, we examine three hook events using the chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem) with 14 km horizontal resolution, satellite data, and aircraft data from the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx). A particularly strong hook yields insights into the development, decay, and radiative impact of these features. Hook development occurs with Nd increasing to polluted levels over the remote ocean primarily due to entrainment of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) from the lower free troposphere (FT). The feature advects northwestward until the FT CCN source is depleted, after which Nd decreases over a few days due to precipitation and dilution. The model suggests that the FT CCN source supplying the hook consists of high concentrations of small accumulation-mode aerosols that contribute a relatively small amount of aerosol mass to the MBL, in agreement with near-coast VOCALS measurements of polluted layers in the FT. The aerosol particles in this hook originate mainly from a pulse of offshore flow that transports Santiago-region (33–35° S) emissions to the remote marine FT. To provide pollution CCN that can sustain hooks, the FT transport of pollution plumes to the remote ocean requires strong, deep offshore flow. Such flow is favored by a trough approaching the South American coast and a southeastward shift of the climatological subtropical high-pressure system. The model simulations show precipitation suppression in the hook and a corresponding increase in liquid water path (LWP) compared with a simulation without anthropogenic sources. LWP also increases as the hook evolves over time due to increasing stability and decreasing subsidence. WRF-Chem suggests that dimethyl sulfide (DMS) significantly influences the aerosol number and size distributions in a hook, but that hooks do not form without FT CCN. The Twomey effect contributes ~ 50–70% of the albedo increase due to the presence of the hook, while secondary aerosol indirect effects and meteorological influences also contribute significantly. The source of hook aerosols is difficult to determine with the available observations alone. The model provides further explanation of the factors influencing hook formation. Two other weaker hooks during VOCALS-REx are not as well simulated but are also associated with FT offshore flow near Santiago. Hooks demonstrate the importance of free-tropospheric transport of aerosols in modulating the droplet concentration in the southeastern Pacific stratocumulus deck, and present a formidable challenge to simulate accurately in large-scale models.

Surface‐based inversions above central Greenland

Surface‐based temperature inversions (SBIs) are studied at Summit Station in central Greenland during the period spanning July 2010 to May 2012. The frequency and intensity of SBI are examined using microwave radiometer (MWR) temperature retrievals, radiosonde profiles, and near‐surface meteorological data. Using the MWRs' high temporal resolution, the diurnal, monthly, and annual cycles are investigated. Monthly mean values in SBI occurrence and intensity show that surface‐based inversions are prevalent in the winter with decreasing values in the summer months. A case study on 20 February 2011 suggests that factors other than solar elevation angle influence the intensity of surface‐based inversions. An increase in liquid water path corresponds to a decrease in SBI intensity, suggesting that liquid‐bearing clouds, especially within the lowest 1 km, are associated with weaker surface‐based inversions.

Impact of a cloud thermodynamic phase parameterization based on CALIPSO observations on climate simulation

This study examines the impact of a new cloud thermodynamic phase parameterization on climate simulation. The new parameterization is based on CALIPSO (Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) observations and replaces the default parameterization in the Community Atmosphere Model version 4. It is shown that the application of the new cloud phase parameterization results in a small increase in global‐mean liquid water path (LWP) and a small decrease in global‐mean ice water path (IWP). Large regional increases in LWP mainly occur in tropical regions such as the western Pacific warm pool and northeastern Indian Ocean and middle latitudes, while large decreases in IWP occur in the midlatitude storm track regions. The increase in zonal‐mean cloud water content occurs at temperatures between −15°C and −30°C and cloud fraction increases occur at higher altitudes near the −30°C isotherm. Two other sensitivity experiments that favor more ice‐phase clouds also increase cloud fractions at the same altitudes, but decrease cloud water content at slightly lower altitudes. It is found that relative humidity increases at the same altitudes where the cloud fraction increases, caused by radiative cooling that is induced by cloud fraction increases but not changes in cloud water content. This result points to a deficiency in cloud fraction parameterizations that rely solely on ambient humidity without taking cloud water/ice content into account. Zonal‐mean cloud albedo forcing is sensitive to LWP in mixed‐phase clouds and the comparison with observations suggests that the CALIPSO and default parameterizations perform well in the extratropical regions.

Snow particle orientation observed by ground‐based microwave radiometry

This study analyzes the effect of snow particle orientation on polarization differences (PDs) observed with a ground‐based radiometer at 150 GHz on the basis of a 1 year time series of snowfall observations. The observations performed on Mount Zugspitze (German Alps) at 2650 meters above sea level reveal that brightness temperature (TB) differences between vertical and horizontal polarizations reach up to −10 K at an elevation angle of 34.8° during snowfall. The analysis of 458 h of snowfall data shows that PDs can be explained by the occurrence of oriented snow particles and supports the potential role of polarization measurements for improved retrievals of snowfall microphysical parameters. The dependence of measured PD and TB on integrated K band radar reflectivity (at 24.1 GHz) and independently derived cloud liquid water path (LWP) has been analyzed. The higher snow water path (SWP) indicated by high values of integrated reflectivity enhances both TB and PD because of the scattering of snow particles. TBs are also found to increase during snowfall when supercooled liquid water is present. The increase of LWP enhances the TB but damps the PD resulting from oriented snow particles. To evaluate the effects of SWP and LWP on PD and TB, radiative transfer simulations assuming horizontally aligned snow oblates using a radiative transfer model have been carried out. PD and TB observations can be captured well by the model given realistic assumptions on mass size relationship and aspect ratio of the oriented snow oblates.

Aerosol indirect effects in a multi-scale aerosol-climate model PNNL-MMF

Abstract. Much of the large uncertainty in estimates of anthropogenic aerosol effects on climate arises from the multi-scale nature of the interactions between aerosols, clouds and dynamics, which are difficult to represent in conventional general circulation models (GCMs). In this study, we use a multi-scale aerosol-climate model that treats aerosols and clouds across multiple scales to study aerosol indirect effects. This multi-scale aerosol-climate model is an extension of a multi-scale modeling framework (MMF) model that embeds a cloud-resolving model (CRM) within each vertical column of a GCM grid. The extension allows a more physically-based treatment of aerosol-cloud interactions in both stratiform and convective clouds on the global scale in a computationally feasible way. Simulated model fields, including liquid water path (LWP), ice water path, cloud fraction, shortwave and longwave cloud forcing, precipitation, water vapor, and cloud droplet number concentration are in reasonable agreement with observations. The new model performs quantitatively similar to the previous version of the MMF model in terms of simulated cloud fraction and precipitation. The simulated change in shortwave cloud forcing from anthropogenic aerosols is −0.77 W m−2, which is less than half of that (−1.79 W m−2) calculated by the host GCM (NCAR CAM5) with traditional cloud parameterizations and is also at the low end of the estimates of other conventional global aerosol-climate models. The smaller forcing in the MMF model is attributed to a smaller (3.9 %) increase in LWP from preindustrial conditions (PI) to present day (PD) compared with 15.6 % increase in LWP in stratiform clouds in CAM5. The difference is caused by a much smaller response in LWP to a given perturbation in cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations from PI to PD in the MMF (about one-third of that in CAM5), and, to a lesser extent, by a smaller relative increase in CCN concentrations from PI to PD in the MMF (about 26 % smaller than that in CAM5). The smaller relative increase in CCN concentrations in the MMF is caused in part by a smaller increase in aerosol lifetime from PI to PD in the MMF, a positive feedback in aerosol indirect effects induced by cloud lifetime effects from aerosols. The smaller response in LWP to anthropogenic aerosols in the MMF model is consistent with observations and with high resolution model studies, which may indicate that aerosol indirect effects simulated in conventional global climate models are overestimated and point to the need to use global high resolution models, such as MMF models or global CRMs, to study aerosol indirect effects. The simulated total anthropogenic aerosol effect in the MMF is −1.05 W m−2, which is close to the Murphy et al. (2009) inverse estimate of −1.1±0.4 W m−2 (1σ) based on the examination of the Earth's energy balance. Further improvements in the representation of ice nucleation and low clouds in MMF are needed to refine the aerosol indirect effect estimate.

Comparison of a global-climate model to a cloud-system resolving model for the long-term response of thin stratocumulus clouds to preindustrial and present-day aerosol conditions

Abstract. The response of a case of thin, warm marine-boundary-layer (MBL) clouds to preindustrial (PI) and present-day (PD) conditions is simulated by a cloud-system resolving model (CSRM). Here, both the aerosol conditions and environmental conditions match those of a general circulation model (GCM). The environmental conditions are characterized by the initial condition and the large-scale forcings of humidity and temperature, as well as the surface fluxes. The response of the CSRM is compared to that simulated by the GCM. The percentage increase of liquid-water path (LWP) due to a change from the PI to PD conditions is ~3 times larger in the CSRM than that in the GCM due to the formation of cumulus clouds. The formation of cumulus clouds is controlled by a larger increase in the surface latent-heat (LH) flux in the PD environment than in the PI environment rather than by the change in aerosols. However, the aerosol increase from the PI to PD level determines the LWP response in the stratocumulus clouds, while the impacts of changes in environmental conditions are negligible for stratocumulus clouds. The conversion of cloud liquid to rain through autoconversion and accretion plays a negligible role in the CSRM in the response to aerosols, whereas it plays a role that is as important as condensation in the GCM. Also, it is notable that the explicit simulation of microphysics in the CSRM leads to a smaller LWP in the CSRM than that in the GCM using heavily parameterized microphysics for stratocumulus clouds. The smaller LWP in the CSRM is closer to an observed LWP than the LWP in the GCM for stratocumulus clouds. Supplementary simulations show that increasing aerosols increase the sensitivity of the cloud responses to the PI and PD environmental conditions. They also show that aerosol effects on clouds depend on the cloud type. The LWP of warm cumulus clouds is more sensitive to aerosols than that of stratocumulus clouds.

Cloud-Resolving Simulation of Low-Cloud Feedback to an Increase in Sea Surface Temperature

Abstract This study investigates the physical mechanisms of the low cloud feedback through cloud-resolving simulations of cloud-radiative equilibrium response to an increase in sea surface temperature (SST). Six pairs of perturbed and control simulations are performed to represent different regimes of low clouds in the subtropical region by specifying SST differences (ΔSST) in the range of 4 and 14 K between the warm tropical and cool subtropical regions. The SST is uniformly increased by 2 K in the perturbed set of simulations. Equilibrium states are characterized by cumulus and stratocumulus cloud regimes with variable thicknesses and vertical extents for the range of specified ΔSSTs, with the perturbed set of simulations having higher cloud bases and tops and larger geometric thicknesses. The cloud feedback effect is negative for this ΔSST range (−0.68 to −5.22 W m−2 K−1) while the clear-sky feedback effect is mostly negative (−1.45 to 0.35 W m−2 K−1). The clear-sky feedback effect contributes greatly to the climate sensitivity parameter for the cumulus cloud regime whereas the cloud feedback effect dominates for the stratocumulus regime. The increase of liquid water path (LWP) and cloud optical depth is related to the increase of cloud thickness and liquid water content with SST. The rates of change in surface latent heat flux are much higher than those of saturation water vapor pressure in the cumulus simulations. The increase in surface latent heat flux is the primary mechanism for the large change of cloud physical properties with +2 K SST, which leads to the negative cloud feedback effects. The changes in cloud fraction also contribute to the negative cloud feedback effects in the cumulus regime. Comparison of these results with prior modeling studies is also discussed.

The Influence of Entrainment and Mixing Assumption on Aerosol–Cloud Interactions in Marine Stratocumulus

Abstract This study uses large-eddy simulation with bin microphysics to investigate the influence of entrainment and mixing on aerosol–cloud interactions in the context of idealized, nocturnal, nondrizzling marine stratocumulus (Sc). Of particular interest are (i) an evaporation–entrainment effect and a sedimentation–entrainment effect that result from increasing aerosol concentrations and (ii) the nature of mixing between clear and cloudy air, where homogeneous and extreme inhomogeneous mixing represent the bounding mixing types. Simulations are performed at low resolution (Δz = 20 m; Δx, y = 40 m) and high resolution (Δz = 10 m; Δx, y = 20 m). It is demonstrated that an increase in aerosol from clean conditions (100 cm−3) to polluted conditions (1000 cm−3) produces both an evaporation–entrainment and a sedimentation–entrainment effect, which couple to cause about a 10% decrease in liquid water path (LWP) when all warm microphysical processes are included. These dynamical effects are insensitive to both the resolutions tested and the mixing assumption. Regardless of resolution, assuming extreme inhomogeneous rather than homogeneous mixing results in a small reduction in cloud-averaged drop number concentration, a small increase in cloud drop effective radius, and ∼1% decrease in cloud optical depth. For the case presented, these small changes play a negligible role when compared to the impact of increasing aerosol and the associated entrainment effects. Finally, it is demonstrated that although increasing resolution causes an increase in LWP and number concentration, the relative sensitivity of cloud optical depth to changes in aerosol is unaffected by resolution.

Changes in Cloud Optical Thickness and Cloud Drop Size Associated with Precipitation Measured with TRMM Satellite

We derived rain rate, cloud optical thickness and the effective radius in water clouds by a combined use of the Precipitation Radar and the Visible and Infrared Scanner onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission. The derived data were used to study how cloud optical thickness relates to precipitation. In particular, we focused on the changes in cloud optical thickness resulted from changes in the size distributions of cloud droplets associated with precipitation. There were considerable scatter between cloud optical thickness and rain rate on a global scale. However, cloud optical thickness was found to increase with rain rate on average. The tendency to increase was mostly due to increases in liquid water path and depended on rain rate. For strong rain, relatively small increases in the optical thickness with rain rate were observed. Whereas, for weak rain, larger increases with rain rate were found, which is related to considerable changes in liquid water path and in the effective radius of cloud droplets. To study the effects of drop size variation, the relationships between cloud optical thickness and rain rate for same values of liquid water path were analyzed. Results show that there were no significant dependences of cloud optical thickness on rain rate for strong rain. For weak rain, cloud optical thickness was found to decrease with rain rate. In particular, significant differences of optical thickness were found between non-precipitating clouds and precipitating clouds: smaller cloud optical thickness was observed for precipitating clouds. Dispersion of cloud drop size was found in the rain formation process, which may relate to changes in the shape of drop size spectra and leads to the decreases in the cloud optical thickness for precipitating clouds.

Water vapor, cloud liquid water paths, and rain rates over northern high latitude open seas

Data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSMI; years 1987–2006), Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer, and a surface‐based radiometer at Barrow, Alaska are examined for insights into the behavior of water vapor, cloud liquid water and rainrates over the northern high latitude seas. We evaluated two separate sets of retrievals, and achieved the best results through combining one that contained explicit monthly mean sea ice fractions with the Wentz V6 water vapor path (WVP), cloud liquid water path (LWP), and rainrate (RR) retrievals. The water vapor path retrieval shows no sensitivity to a proxy for sub‐pixel sea ice presence, while the liquid water path retrievals are sensitive to sea ice presence during summertime but otherwise the Wentz internal sea‐ice screening appears effective. The rainrate retrieval is highly sensitive to any sea ice during all seasons. The seasonal cycle and 1987–2006 time trends are examined. The WVP annual cycle has an amplitude of ∼1 cm at all locations, approximately double a broad winter minimum, with a July maximum phasing that is consistent with a continental influence. Little change occurs between January and April in WVP and LWP. The springtime LWP increase usually occurs in tandem with the WVP increase and slightly lags the falltime WVP decrease. The maximum lag occurs over the northern Pacific, where the maximum LWP occurs in August, one month later than over the northern Atlantic, and is correlated to an August precipitation maximum. The strongest SSMI‐derived trend is an increase in wintertime moisture south of Greenland, with wintertime LWP increases in the Labrador Sea. North of the Bering Strait, where much of the recent summer and autumn sea ice loss has occurred, the autumn WVP and LWP increased from 1989 to 2001 with a subsequent LWP decrease in recent years. The recent decline appears linked to a decrease in cyclone activity. Winter and spring LWP increases from 2002 to the present are noted in the surface‐based data set from Barrow, Alaska. Over the Barents Sea, where much of the recent winter sea ice loss has occurred, winter WVP and LWP have increased over the past decade. A comparison to National Center for Atmospheric Research Community Atmospheric Model Version 3.5 values finds modeled WVPs are slightly underestimated but the amplitude of the annual cycle is similar to that observed. Modeled winter LWPs slightly exceed those measured while the modeled summer LWPs exceed by a factor of two those observed (which are more likely to be positively biased also). The modeled rainrates are similar to retrieved values in the north Pacific, and exceed retrieved values by approximately a factor of 2 in the northeast Atlantic.