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Long-term impacts of aerosols on the vertical development of clouds and precipitation

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 888–894 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

Aerosols alter cloud density and the radiative balance of the atmosphere. This leads to changes in cloud microphysics and atmospheric stability, which can either suppress or foster the development of clouds and precipitation. The net effect is largely unknown, but depends on meteorological conditions and aerosol properties. Here, we examine the long-term impact of aerosols on the vertical development of clouds and rainfall frequencies, using a 10-year dataset of aerosol, cloud and meteorological variables collected in the Southern Great Plains in the United States. We show that cloud-top height and thickness increase with aerosol concentration measured near the ground in mixed-phase clouds—which contain both liquid water and ice—that have a warm, low base. We attribute the effect, which is most significant in summer, to an aerosol-induced invigoration of upward winds. In contrast, we find no change in cloud-top height and precipitation with aerosol concentration in clouds with no ice or cool bases. We further show that precipitation frequency and rain rate are altered by aerosols. Rain increases with aerosol concentration in deep clouds that have a high liquid-water content, but declines in clouds that have a low liquid-water content. Simulations using a cloud-resolving model confirm these observations. Our findings provide unprecedented insights of the long-term net impacts of aerosols on clouds and precipitation.

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Figure 1: Variations of cloud top temperature (CTT) with concentration of condensation nuclei (CN) for single-layer clouds.
Figure 2: Changes in cloud thickness with concentration of condensation nuclei (CN).
Figure 3: Frequency of occurrence for six bins of cloud top height and six subsets of concentration of condensation nuclei (CN).
Figure 4: Changes in rainfall frequency and rain rate distribution with concentration of condensation nuclei (CN).
Figure 5: Cloud base height (CBH) as a function of concentration of condensation nuclei (CN) for single-layer clouds during all summer seasons.
Figure 6: Modelled changes in cloud thickness, CTH, rain frequency and rain amount with CCN.

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Acknowledgements

The investigation would not be possible without the ARM measurements of the US Department of Energy, which also funds all investigators under its Atmospheric System Research programme. Z.L. was also supported by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (NNX08AH71G), the National Science Foundation (NSF) (AGS1118325), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012CB955400, 2006CB403706).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, GCESS, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

    Zhanqing Li

  2. College of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China

    Zhanqing Li

  3. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science & ESSIC, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

    Zhanqing Li, Feng Niu & Yanni Ding

  4. Atmospheric Science and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA

    Jiwen Fan

  5. Atmospheric Sciences Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA

    Yangang Liu

  6. Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel

    Daniel Rosenfeld

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Contributions

Z.L. initiated the project, led the study and wrote the manuscript. F.N. carried out data analyses, prepared the figures and documented the study. J.F. conducted model simulations. D.R. and Y.L. participated in science discussions and suggested analyses. Y.D. helped generate some supplementary figures.

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Correspondence to Zhanqing Li.

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Li, Z., Niu, F., Fan, J. et al. Long-term impacts of aerosols on the vertical development of clouds and precipitation. Nature Geosci 4, 888–894 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1313

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