Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans
Abstract Aerosol effects on convective clouds and associated precipitation constitute an important open-ended question in climate research. Previous studies have linked an increase in aerosol concentration to a delay in the onset of rain, invigorated clouds and stronger rain rates. Here, using obser...
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doaj-a87c1a03419c4f51a2805cc64a32fe232020-12-08T08:24:39ZengNature Publishing GroupScientific Reports2045-23222019-05-01911710.1038/s41598-019-44284-2Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical OceansHuan Liu0Jianping Guo1Ilan Koren2Orit Altaratz3Guy Dagan4Yuan Wang5Jonathan H. Jiang6Panmao Zhai7Yuk L. Yung8State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesState Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of ScienceDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of ScienceDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of ScienceDivision of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of TechnologyJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of TechnologyState Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesDivision of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of TechnologyAbstract Aerosol effects on convective clouds and associated precipitation constitute an important open-ended question in climate research. Previous studies have linked an increase in aerosol concentration to a delay in the onset of rain, invigorated clouds and stronger rain rates. Here, using observational data, we show that the aerosol effect on convective clouds shifts from invigoration to suppression with increasing aerosol optical depth. We explain this shift in trend (using a cloud model) as the result of a competition between two types of microphysical processes: cloud-core-based invigorating processes vs. peripheral suppressive processes. We show that the aerosol optical depth value that marks the shift between invigoration and suppression depends on the environmental thermodynamic conditions. These findings can aid in better parameterizing aerosol effects in climate models for the prediction of climate trends.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44284-2 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Huan Liu Jianping Guo Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Guy Dagan Yuan Wang Jonathan H. Jiang Panmao Zhai Yuk L. Yung |
spellingShingle |
Huan Liu Jianping Guo Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Guy Dagan Yuan Wang Jonathan H. Jiang Panmao Zhai Yuk L. Yung Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans Scientific Reports |
author_facet |
Huan Liu Jianping Guo Ilan Koren Orit Altaratz Guy Dagan Yuan Wang Jonathan H. Jiang Panmao Zhai Yuk L. Yung |
author_sort |
Huan Liu |
title |
Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans |
title_short |
Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans |
title_full |
Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans |
title_fullStr |
Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans |
title_full_unstemmed |
Non-Monotonic Aerosol Effect on Precipitation in Convective Clouds over Tropical Oceans |
title_sort |
non-monotonic aerosol effect on precipitation in convective clouds over tropical oceans |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
series |
Scientific Reports |
issn |
2045-2322 |
publishDate |
2019-05-01 |
description |
Abstract Aerosol effects on convective clouds and associated precipitation constitute an important open-ended question in climate research. Previous studies have linked an increase in aerosol concentration to a delay in the onset of rain, invigorated clouds and stronger rain rates. Here, using observational data, we show that the aerosol effect on convective clouds shifts from invigoration to suppression with increasing aerosol optical depth. We explain this shift in trend (using a cloud model) as the result of a competition between two types of microphysical processes: cloud-core-based invigorating processes vs. peripheral suppressive processes. We show that the aerosol optical depth value that marks the shift between invigoration and suppression depends on the environmental thermodynamic conditions. These findings can aid in better parameterizing aerosol effects in climate models for the prediction of climate trends. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44284-2 |
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