The dependence of ice microphysics on aerosol concentration in arctic mixed-phase stratus clouds during ISDAC and M-PACE

Abstract

Cloud and aerosol data acquired by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Convair-580 aircraft in, above, and below single-layer arctic stratocumulus cloud during the Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC) in April 2008 were used to test three aerosol indirect effects hypothesized to act in mixed-phase clouds: the riming indirect effect, the glaciation indirect effect, and the thermodynamic indirect effect. The data showed a correlation of R = 0.78 between liquid drop number concentration, N liq inside cloud and ambient aerosol number concentration N PCASP below cloud. This, combined with increasing liquid water content LWC with height above cloud base and the nearly constant vertical profile of N liq, suggested that liquid drops nucleated from aerosol at cloud base. No evidence of a riming indirect effect was observed, but a strong correlation of R = 0.69 between ice crystal number concentration N i and N PCASP above cloud was noted. Increases in ice nuclei (IN) concentration with N PCASP above cloud for 2 flight dates combined with the subadiabatic LWC profiles suggest possible mixing of IN from cloud top consistent with the glaciation indirect effect. The lower N ice and lower effective radius r el for the more polluted ISDAC cases compared to data collected in cleaner single-layer stratocumulus conditions during the Mixed-Phase Arctic Cloud Experiment is consistent with the operation of the thermodynamic indirect effect. However, more data in a wider variety of meteorological and surface conditions, with greater variations in aerosol forcing, are required to identify the dominant aerosol forcing mechanisms in mixed-phase arctic clouds. © 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.