Search Results (9)

Clouds play a central role in regulating incoming solar radiation and outgoing terrestrial emission; hence, they must be internally constrained to prognose Earth’s temperature. At the same time, planetary fluids are inherently turbulent, so the climate state would tend toward maximum entropy production—a generalized second law of thermodynamics. Incorporating these requirements, I have previously formulated an aquaplanet model to demonstrate that intrinsic water properties may strongly lower the climate sensitivity to solar irradiance, thereby resolving the faint young Sun paradox (FYSP). In this paper, I extend the model to include other external forcings and show that sensitivity to the reduced outgoing longwave radiation by the elevated pCO₂ can be several times greater, but the global temperature remains capped at ~40 °C by the exponential increase in saturated vapor pressure. I further show that planetary albedo augmented by a tropical supercontinent may cool the climate sufficiently to cause tropical glaciation. And since the glacial edge is marked by above-freezing temperature, it abuts an open, co-zonal ocean, thereby obviating the “Snowball Earth” hypothesis. Our theory thus provides a unified framework for interpreting Earth’s diverse climates, including the FYSP, the warm extremes of the Cambrian and Cretaceous, and the tropical glaciations of the Precambrian. Full article

Secondary ice productions (SIPs) can produce ice crystals with a number concentration much higher than that of ice nucleating particles in mixed-phase clouds and therefore influence cloud glaciation and precipitation. For midlatitude continental mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), how SIPs affect the microphysical properties and precipitation is still not clear. There are few studies of SIPs in midlatitude continental MCSs. This study investigates the roles of three SIPs (rime splintering, freezing drop shattering, and ice-ice collisional breakup) on a squall line case in North China on 18 August 2020 using the WRF model with a modified Morrison double-moment bulk microphysical scheme. Including SIPs, especially ice-ice collisional breakup, in the model simulations markedly improves the simulated convective area and convective precipitation rate of the squall line, while slightly improving the area and precipitation of the stratiform region. Within the mixed-phase layer in both the convective and stratiform regions of the squall line, ice-ice collisional breakup is the dominant process to generate ice crystals. In contrast, rime splintering generates an order of magnitude fewer ice crystals than ice-ice collisional breakup, while freezing drop shattering plays a negligible role due to the lack of large drops. Ice multiplication through ice-ice collisional breakup and rime splintering produces numerous snowflakes and graupel. This leads to enhanced depositional growth and weaker riming, which in turn weakens rime splintering. It is recommended to add SIP parameterization to the model. Full article

The cloud thermodynamic phase is a crucial parameter to understand the Earth’s radiation budget, the hydrological cycle, and atmospheric thermodynamic processes. Spaceborne active remote sensing such as the synergistic radar-lidar DARDAR product is considered the most reliable method to determine cloud phase; however, it lacks large-scale observations and high repetition rates. These can be provided by passive instruments such as SEVIRI aboard the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite, but passive remote sensing of the thermodynamic phase is challenging and confined to cloud top. Thus, it is necessary to understand to what extent passive sensors with the characteristics of SEVIRI are expected to provide a relevant contribution to cloud phase investigation. To reach this goal, we collect five years of DARDAR data to model the cloud top phase (CTP) for MSG/SEVIRI and create a SEVIRI-like CTP through an elaborate aggregation procedure. Thereby, we distinguish between ice (IC), mixed-phase (MP), supercooled (SC), and warm liquid (LQ). Overall, 65% of the resulting SEVIRI pixels are cloudy, consisting of 49% IC, 14% MP, 13% SC, and 24% LQ cloud tops. The spatial resolution has a significant effect on the occurrence of CTP, especially for MP cloud tops, which occur significantly more often at the lower SEVIRI resolution than at the higher DARDAR resolution (9%). We find that SC occurs most frequently at high southern latitudes, while MP is found mainly in both high southern and high northern latitudes. LQ dominates in the subsidence zones over the ocean, while IC occurrence dominates everywhere else. MP and SC show little seasonal variability apart from high latitudes, especially in the south. IC and LQ are affected by the shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The peak of occurrence of SC is at −3 ${}^{\circ }$C, followed by that for MP at −13 ${}^{\circ }$C. Between 0 and −27 ${}^{\circ }$C, the occurrence of SC and MP dominates IC, while below −27 ${}^{\circ }$C, IC is the most frequent CTP. Finally, the occurrence of cloud top height (CTH) peaks lower over the ocean than over land, with MP, SC, and IC being undistinguishable in the tropics but with separated CTH peaks in the rest of the MSG disk. Finally, we test the ability of a state-of-the-art AI-based ice cloud detection algorithm for SEVIRI named CiPS (Cirrus Properties for SEVIRI) to detect cloud ice. We confirm previous evaluations with an ice detection probability of 77.1% and find a false alarm rate of 11.6%, of which 68% are due to misclassified cloud phases. CiPS is not sensitive to ice crystals in MP clouds and therefore not suitable for the detection of MP clouds but only for fully glaciated (i.e., IC) clouds. Our study demonstrates the need for the development of dedicated cloud phase distinction algorithms for all cloud phases (IC, LQ, MP, SC) from geostationary satellites. Full article

The In-Cloud Icing and Large-drop Experiment (ICICLE) flight campaign, led by the United States Federal Aviation Administration, was conducted in the geographical region over US Midwest and Western Great Lakes, between January and March 2019, with the aim to collect atmospheric data and study the aircraft icing hazard. Measurements were taken onboard the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) Convair-580 aircraft, which was equipped with more than 40 in situ probes, sensors, and remote sensing instruments in collaboration with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). In each flight, aerosol, cloud microphysics, atmospheric and aircraft state data were collected. Atmospheric environment characterization is critical both for cloud studies and for operational decision making in flight. In this study, we use the advantage of multiple input parameters collected in-flight together with machine learning and clustering techniques to characterize the flight environment. Eleven parameters were evaluated for the classification of the sampled environment along the flight path. Namely, aerosol concentration, temperature, hydrometeor concentration, hydrometeor size, liquid water content, total water content, ice accretion rate, and radar parameters in the vicinity of the aircraft. In the analysis of selected flights, we were able to identify periods of supercooled liquid clouds, glaciated clouds, two types of mixed-phase clouds, and clear air conditions. This approach offers an alternative characterization of cloud boundaries and a complementary identification of flight periods with hazardous icing conditions. Full article

This paper analyzes the temperature, cloud type, and life stage dependencies of phase partitioning in mixed-phase clouds spanning tropics, midlatitudes, and the Arctic, using data from ground-based remote sensing measurements in Alaska and aircraft measurements from three field campaigns. The results show: (1) The liquid fraction in Arctic stratiform clouds decreased from 1 to 0.6 between 0 °C and −30 °C and was lower in spring because of the higher dust occurrence in Barrow, Alaska; (2) In wintertime orographic clouds, the liquid fraction was greater than 0.8; (3) Phase partitioning in convective clouds varied significantly with life stages. In the developing stage, it decreased from 1 to 0.3 between −5 °C and −15 °C, indicating rapid ice generation, while at the mature and dissipating stages, the liquid fractions were lower; (4) The stratiform regions of mesoscale convective systems were dominated by ice, with liquid fractions lower than 0.2; and (5) The variability of phase partitioning varied for different cloud types. In stratiform clouds, liquid dominated at warm temperatures. As the temperature decreased, an ice-dominated region was more frequently observed, while the occurrence of the mixed-phase region remained low. For convective clouds, the variability of phase partitioning was controlled by continuous glaciation with decreasing temperature and life cycle. Full article

Among the densely-populated coastal areas of China, the southeastern coast has received less attention in convective development despite having been suffering from significantly increasing thunderstorm activities. The convective complexity under such a region with extremely complex underlying and convective conditions deserves in-depth observational surveys. This present study examined a high-impact convection outbreak event with over 40 hail reports in the southeastern coast of China on 6 May 2020 by focusing on contrasting the convective development (from convective initiation to supercell occurrences) among three adjacent convection-active zones (north (N), middle (M), and south (S)). The areas from N to S featured overall flatter terrain, higher levels of free convection, lower relative humidity, larger convective inhibition, more convective available potential energy, and greater vertical wind shears. With these mesoscale environmental variations, distinct inter-zone differences in the convective development were observed with the region’s surveillance radar network and the Himawari-8 geostationary satellite. Convection initiated in succession from N to S and began with more warm-rain processes in N and M and more ice-phase processes in S. The subsequent convection underwent more vigorous vertical growth from N to S. The extremely deep convection in S was characterized by the considerably strong precipitation above the freezing level, echo tops of up to 18 km, and a great amount of deep (even overshooting) and thick convective clouds with significant cloud-top glaciation. Horizontal anvil expansion in convective clouds was uniquely apparent over S. From N to S, more pronounced mesocyclone and weak-echo region signatures indicated high risks of severe supercell hailstorms. These results demonstrate the strong linkage between the occurrence likelihood of severe convection and associated weather (such as supercells and hailstones) and the early-stage convective development that can be well-captured by high-resolution observations and may facilitate fine-scale convection nowcasting. Full article

The development of methods for quantifying meltwater from glaciated areas is very important for better management of water resources and because of the strong impact of current and expected climate change on the Alpine cryosphere. Radiative fluxes are the main melt-drivers, but they can generally not be derived from in situ measures because glaciers are usually located in remote areas where the number of meteorological stations is very low. For this reason, focusing, as a case study, on one of the few glaciers with a supraglacial automatic weather station (Forni Glacier), we investigated methods based on both satellite records and off-glacier surface observations to estimate incoming short- and long-wave radiation at the glacier surface (SW_in and LW_in). Specifically, for SW_in, we considered CM SAF SARAH satellite gridded surface solar irradiance fields and data modeled by cloud transmissivity parametrized from both CM SAF COMET satellite cloud fractional cover fields and daily temperature range observed at the closest off-glacier station. We then used the latter two data sources to derive LW_in too. Finally, we used the estimated SW_in and LW_in records to assess the errors obtained when introducing estimated rather than measured incoming radiation data to quantify glacier melting by means of an energy balance model. Our results suggest that estimated SW_in and LW_in records derived from satellite measures are in better agreement with in situ observations than estimated SW_in and LW_in records parametrized from observations performed at the closest off-glacier station. Moreover, we find that the former estimated records permit a significantly better quantification of glacier melting than the latter estimated ones. Full article

Secondary ice production via rime-splintering is considered to be an important process for rapid glaciation and high ice crystal numbers observed in mixed-phase convective clouds. An open question is how rime-splintering is triggered in the relatively short time between cloud formation and observations of high ice crystal numbers. We use idealised simulations of a deep convective cloud system to investigate the thermodynamic and cloud microphysical evolution of air parcels, in which the model predicts secondary ice formation. The Lagrangian analysis suggests that the “in-situ” formation of rimers either by growth of primary ice or rain freezing does not play a major role in triggering secondary ice formation. Instead, rimers are predominantly imported into air parcels through sedimentation form higher altitudes. While ice nucleating particles (INPs) initiating heterogeneous freezing of cloud droplets at temperatures warmer than −10 °C have no discernible impact of the occurrence of secondary ice formation, in a scenario with rain freezing secondary ice production is initiated slightly earlier in the cloud evolution and at slightly different places, although with no major impact on the abundance or spatial distribution of secondary ice in the cloud as a whole. These results suggest that for interpreting and analysing observational data and model experiments regarding cloud glaciation and ice formation it is vital to consider the complex vertical coupling of cloud microphysical processes in deep convective clouds via three-dimensional transport and sedimentation. Full article

There has been increasing interest in ice nucleation research in the last decade. To identify important gaps in our knowledge of ice nucleation processes and their impacts, two international workshops on ice nucleation were held in Vienna, Austria in 2015 and 2016. Experts from these workshops identified the following research needs: (1) uncovering the molecular identity of active sites for ice nucleation; (2) the importance of modeling for the understanding of heterogeneous ice nucleation; (3) identifying and quantifying contributions of biological ice nuclei from natural and managed environments; (4) examining the role of aging in ice nuclei; (5) conducting targeted sampling campaigns in clouds; and (6) designing lab and field experiments to increase our understanding of the role of ice-nucleating particles in the atmosphere. Interdisciplinary teams of scientists should work together to establish and maintain a common, unified language for ice nucleation research. A number of commercial applications benefit from ice nucleation research, including the production of artificial snow, the freezing and preservation of water-containing food products, and the potential modulation of weather. Additional work is needed to increase our understanding of ice nucleation processes and potential impacts on precipitation, water availability, climate change, crop health, and feedback cycles. Full article