Solid aerosols show contrasting effects on maritime and continental glaciated clouds

Recent simulations have shown that increasing ice nuclei can intensify precipitation in maritime clouds while suppressing it in continental clouds.

The simulations have been performed using a state-of-the-art aerosol-cloud scheme coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.

In the mid-latitude continental case, the boosting of solid aerosol concentrations weakened updraft speeds in deep convective clouds resulting in reduced snow and graupel production. On the other hand, in the tropical maritime case, increased ice nuclei invigorated updrafts in the upper-troposphere, pushing cloud tops upwards and intensifying snow production. Consequently, the cloud fraction and cloud optical thickness were diminished.

Further information

Researcher Innocent Kudzotsa, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, innocent.kudzotsa@fmi.fi

Kudzotsa, I., Phillips, V. T. J., & Dobbie, S. (2018). Effects of Solid Aerosols on Partially Glaciated Clouds. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.

https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/qj.3376