American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 19(35), 2008
DOI: 10.1029/2008gl035449
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We simulated the interactions of aerosols with liquid clouds using an aerosol-coupled global cloud-system-resolving model with horizontal resolution of 7 km, and the results are compared with satellite observations of cloud and aerosols. The result shows detailed spatial structures of cloud droplet effective radii (CDR) realistically simulated especially over tropics. The global correlation statistics of liquid water path (LWP) with aerosol index (AI) are investigated for different cloud types to reveal that the LWP slightly decreases with increasing AI, closely resembling satellite-observed features. The CDRs for different cloud types are also shown to decrease with increasing AI, and the sensitivities are found to be relatively similar among cloud types although of discrepancy in absolute values between the model and satellite observation. The model also simulates vertical growth patterns of liquid droplets and their interactions with aerosols in a manner similar to satellite observations.