Published in

American Geophysical Union, Geophysical Research Letters, 19(35), 2008

DOI: 10.1029/2008gl035449

Links

Tools

Export citation

Search in Google Scholar

Global cloud-system-resolving simulation of aerosol effect on warm clouds

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

Full text: Download

Green circle
Preprint: archiving allowed
Green circle
Postprint: archiving allowed
Orange circle
Published version: archiving restricted
Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

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.