Simulation of the aerosol effect on the microphysical properties of shallow stratocumulus clouds over East Asia using a bin-based meso-scale cloud model

Abstract

Abstract. A bin-based meso-scale cloud model has been employed to explore the aerosol influence on the cloud microphysical properties and precipitation efficiency of shallow stratocumulus in East Asia in March 2005. We newly constructed aerosol size distributions and hygroscopicity parameters for five aerosol species that reproduced observed aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentrations in the target period, and thereby used in model simulation of the cloud microphysical properties and precipitation efficiency. It is found that the simulated results were satisfactorily close to the satellite-based observation. Significant effects of aerosols as well as of the meteorological condition were found in the simulated cloud properties and precipitation as confirmed by comparing maritime and polluted aerosol cases and by a sensitivity test with interchanging the aerosol conditions for two cases. Cloud droplets in the polluted condition tended to exhibit relatively narrower cloud drop spectral widths with a bias toward smaller droplet sizes than those in maritime condition, supporting the dispersion effect. The polluted aerosol condition also had a tendency of thinner and higher cloud layers than maritime aerosol condition under relatively humid meteorological condition, possibly due to enhanced updraft. In our cases, vertical structures of cloud droplet number and size were affected predominantly by the change in aerosol conditions, whereas in the structures of liquid water content and cloud fraction were influenced by both meteorological and aerosol conditions. Aerosol change made little differences in cloud liquid water, vertical cloud structure, and updraft/downdraft velocities between the maritime and polluted conditions under dry atmospheric condition. Quantitative evaluations of the sensitivity factor between aerosol and cloud parameters revealed a large sensitivity values in the target area compared to the previously reported values, indicating the strong aerosol-cloud interaction.