Understanding Cloud Processes and Cloud–Climate Feedback: Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 536

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Interests: cloud processes; cloud–climate feedback; land–cloud–climate interactions; global climate change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cloud processes span a wide range of temporal and spatial scales, from the microphysics of individual cloud droplets to the macrophysics of cloud systems at the regional and global scales. These processes are vital to the Earth–atmosphere system, affecting radiative balance, water cycles, and climate sensitivity. However, significant challenges persist in the understanding of cloud properties, largely due to limitations in observations and model parameterizations. Moreover, the uncertainties in cloud feedback mechanisms continue to limit our understanding of future climate change. This Special Issue, entitled “Understanding Cloud Processes and CloudClimate Feedback: Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives”, aims to bring together recent research on the characteristics of cloud processes, cloud feedback mechanisms, and their implications for climate sensitivity.

Submissions are invited from studies that have used satellite or in situ observations, advanced modeling techniques, and theoretical approaches to enhance our understanding of cloud macro- and micro-physics, cloud radiative effects, and the effects of clouds on regional and global climate patterns. Contributions that (1) address cloud physics and their processes, (2) explore the long-term changes in clouds and their radiative effects, or (3) provide a comprehensive analysis on cloud feedback mechanisms are particularly welcome. The encouraged topics are, however, not limited to the above. Papers contributing to garnering insight into the mechanisms of aerosol–cloud–climate interactions are also welcome. This Special Issue offers a platform for sharing innovative findings and discussing future research directions to improve the representation of clouds in climate models and ultimately reduce the uncertainties in climate projections.

Dr. Hao Luo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • cloud processes
  • cloud physics
  • cloud–climate feedback
  • cloud radiative effects
  • climate change
  • satellite observations
  • climate modeling

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 2737 KiB  
Article
The Role of Sea Breeze in the Coastal Stratocumulus Dissipation Transition in Antofagasta and San Diego
by Gabriela Pallauta Pérez, Ricardo C. Muñoz, Patricio Arrué and Mónica Zamora Zapata
Atmosphere 2025, 16(4), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16040437 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 348
Abstract
Coastal Stratocumulus clouds have a diurnal cycle influenced by solar heating and sea-breeze dynamics. These clouds typically thin after sunrise, and some of them fragment and then dissipate, a transition that has proven difficult to predict. In this work, we study the role [...] Read more.
Coastal Stratocumulus clouds have a diurnal cycle influenced by solar heating and sea-breeze dynamics. These clouds typically thin after sunrise, and some of them fragment and then dissipate, a transition that has proven difficult to predict. In this work, we study the role of sea breeze in the dissipation transition by analyzing observations at two coastal sites, Antofagasta, Chile, and San Diego, CA. Surface measurements of solar irradiance and wind speed allow us to diagnose cloud fragmentation time, dissipation time, and the onset of sea breeze. While both locations differ in meteorological conditions, the transition has a distinctive sequence with similar average times: sunrise, then sea breeze (43 min later), and finally fragmentation (1.25 h) and dissipation (4.1 h). While the sequence suggests that sea breeze may be causing fragmentation, correlations do not support that hypothesis; instead, solar and thermodynamic variables gain relevance. Later dissipation shows correspondence to stronger wind speed, more markedly in Antofagasta. Causality between wind speed and solar irradiance was assessed using Convergent Cross Mapping, showing a bidirectional positive correlation that is dominated by wind speed, more strongly in Antofagasta than in San Diego, highlighting the role of sea breeze in causing changes in cloudiness. Full article
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