Publication Abstracts
Wu et al. 2025
Wu, P., M. Ovchinnikov, H. Xiao, C.P. Lackner, B. Geerts, , and , 2025: Effect of ice number concentration on the evolution of boundary layer clouds during Arctic marine cold-air outbreaks. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 130, no. 3, e2024JD041282, doi:10.1029/2024JD041282.
Marine cold-air outbreaks (MCAOs) are crucial for Arctic Ocean heat loss, featuring convective cloud rolls that transition into convection cells downstream. Understanding factors controlling this transformation is the key for improving MCAO cloud representation in climate models. This study employs large-eddy simulations to investigate how cloud ice number concentrations (Ni) affect cloud evolution using a case from the Cold-Air Outbreaks in the Marine Boundary Layer Experiment (COMBLE) campaign. The simulations, performed in a Lagrangian framework following an air mass trajectory, are driven by ERA5 reanalysis data. Initially, all simulations produce similar cloud patterns, but higher Ni leads to earlier breakup of cloud rolls. Between 4 and 10 hr, surface precipitation rates are similar across simulations, but precipitation initiates earlier, and the cloud-base precipitation rates are higher when Ni is higher. The stronger precipitation evaporation leads to increased stability of the boundary layer and reduced intensity of vertical mixing between the surface and cloud layer. An increased sink of cloud layer moisture via precipitation and decreased source through diminished vertical transport result in earlier cloud breakup in higher Ni conditions. Simulations with different sea surface temperatures (SST) indicate that this cloud breakup mechanism remains valid for MCAOs of different strengths, although the cloud organization is more sensitive to SST changes in low Ni environments. This work highlights the importance of accurate representations of ice processes in simulating MCAO clouds and suggests the need for observational constraints of ice nucleating particles and Ni over the mixed-phase cloud regimes.
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BibTeX Citation
@article{wu05100p,
author={Wu, P. and Ovchinnikov, M. and Xiao, H. and Lackner, C. P. and Geerts, B. and Tornow, F. and Elsaesser, G.},
title={Effect of ice number concentration on the evolution of boundary layer clouds during Arctic marine cold-air outbreaks},
year={2025},
journal={Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
volume={130},
number={3},
pages={e2024JD041282},
doi={10.1029/2024JD041282},
}
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RIS Citation
TY - JOUR ID - wu05100p AU - Wu, P. AU - Ovchinnikov, M. AU - Xiao, H. AU - Lackner, C. P. AU - Geerts, B. AU - Tornow, F. AU - Elsaesser, G. PY - 2025 TI - Effect of ice number concentration on the evolution of boundary layer clouds during Arctic marine cold-air outbreaks JA - J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres VL - 130 IS - 3 SP - e2024JD041282 DO - 10.1029/2024JD041282 ER -
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