Identification

Title

Aerosol effects on stratocumulus water paths in a PDF-based parameterization

Abstract

Successful simulation of aerosol indirect effects in climate models requires parameterizations that capture the full range of cloud-aerosol interactions, including positive and negative liquid water path (LWP) responses to increasing aerosol concentrations, as suggested by large eddy simulations (LESs). A parameterization based on multi-variate probability density functions with dynamics (MVD PDFs) has been incorporated into the single-column version of GFDL AM3, extended to treat aerosol activation, and coupled with a two-moment microphysics scheme. We use it to explore cloud-aerosol interactions. In agreement with LESs, our single-column simulations produce both positive and negative LWP responses to increasing aerosol concentrations, depending on precipitation and free atmosphere relative humidity. We have conducted sensitivity tests to vertical resolution and droplet sedimentation parameterization. The dependence of sedimentation on cloud droplet size is essential to capture the full LWP responses to aerosols. Further analyses reveal that the MVD PDFs are able to represent changes in buoyancy profiles induced by sedimentation as well as enhanced entrainment efficiency with aerosols comparable to LESs.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7xp75nn

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011-09-10T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact