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Shallow Convective Cloud Field Lifetime as a Key Factor for Evaluating Aerosol Effects.
Guy Dagan1, Ilan Koren1, Orit Altaratz1
1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
Iscience
|December 12, 2018
Summary
Aerosol effects on clouds are not negligible over their lifetime. New research shows warm convective clouds change rapidly, implying aerosols significantly impact these transient cloud systems.
Area of Science:
- Atmospheric Science
- Cloud Physics
- Climate Science
Background:
- Clouds are critical to Earth's energy and water cycles.
- Atmospheric aerosols influence cloud properties and behavior.
- Previous research suggested aerosol effects on clouds reach a steady state after 24 hours.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the characteristic timescale of aerosol-cloud interactions in warm convective systems.
- To determine if warm convective clouds are transient or reach a steady state regarding aerosol effects.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of satellite observations and reanalysis data.
- Utilizing numerical simulations to complement observational data.
- Comparing simulated timescales with observational evidence.
Main Results:
- The characteristic timescale for warm convective cloud fields was found to be less than 12 hours.
- This indicates that these cloud systems do not reach a steady state within typical observational periods.
- Contrary to previous simulations, cloud fields are transient phenomena.
Conclusions:
- Warm convective clouds are highly susceptible to changes in aerosol properties due to their short, transient nature.
- The rapid evolution of these clouds means aerosol impacts are significant and not negligible over their lifetime.
- Revising the understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions is crucial for climate modeling.
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