Regime-Dependent Impacts of Aerosol Particles and Updrafts on the Cloud Condensation Nuclei and the Enhanced Warm Rain Suppression: Evidence From Synergistic Satellite and LiDAR Observations

Abstract

The regime-dependence of aerosol-cloud interaction has recently been highlighted and explored using idealized cloud-resolving models in previous studies. We further utilized synergistic observations from satellites and LiDARs to reinforce understandings of this interaction, and then examined and clarified the regime dependence of aerosol indirect effects. Results from regional satellite retrievals confirm that in clean conditions, the activation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) was limited by the particle numbers whereas in polluted regimes updraft velocities played a crucial role. Also, warm rain suppression was significantly enhanced especially over inland areas. Similar evidence was provided by a LiDAR network over a more limited spatial domain. In polluted environments with heterogeneous deep convective cloud events, turbulence-induced updrafts not only acted as a dynamical condition for the increase of aerosol particles, but also altered the aerosol-cloud interaction into updraft-limited regime, making the activation of CCN more sensitive to the enhancement of updraft velocities.