0000000000703746
AUTHOR
Patric Seifert
The impact of mineral dust on cloud formation during the Saharan dust event in April 2014 over Europe
A regional modeling study on the impact of desert dust on cloud formation is presented for a major Saharan dust outbreak over Europe from 2 to 5 April 2014. The dust event coincided with an extensive and dense cirrus cloud layer, suggesting an influence of dust on atmospheric ice nucleation. Using interactive simulation with the regional dust model COSMO-MUSCAT, we investigate cloud and precipitation representation in the model and test the sensitivity of cloud parameters to dust–cloud and dust–radiation interactions of the simulated dust plume. We evaluate model results with ground-based and spaceborne remote sensing measurements of aerosol and cloud properties, as well as the in situ meas…
The Arctic Cloud Puzzle: Using ACLOUD/PASCAL Multiplatform Observations to Unravel the Role of Clouds and Aerosol Particles in Arctic Amplification
A consortium of polar scientists combined observational forces in a field campaign of unprecedented complexity to uncover the secrets of clouds and their role in Arctic amplification. Two research aircraft, an icebreaker research vessel, an ice-floe camp including an instrumented tethered balloon, and a permanent ground-based measurement station were employed in this endeavour. Clouds play an important role in Arctic amplification. This term represents the recently observed enhanced warming of the Arctic relative to the global increase of near-surface air temperature. However, there are still important knowledge gaps regarding the interplay between Arctic clouds and aerosol particles, surfa…
The Pagami Creek smoke plume after long-range transport to the upper troposphere over Europe – aerosol properties and black carbon mixing state
Abstract. During the CONCERT 2011 field experiment with the DLR research aircraft Falcon, an enhanced aerosol layer with particle linear depolarization ratios of 6–8% at 532 nm was observed at altitudes above 10 km over northeast Germany on 16 September 2011. Dispersion simulations with HYSPILT suggest that the elevated aerosol layer originated from the Pagami Creek forest fire in Minnesota, USA, which caused pyro-convective uplift of particles and gases. The 3–4 day-old smoke plume had high total refractory black carbon (rBC) mass concentrations of 0.03–0.35 μg m−3 at standard temperature and pressure (STP) with rBC mass equivalent diameter predominantly smaller than 130 nm. Assuming a cor…
Influence of Saharan dust on cloud glaciation in southern Morocco during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment
[1] Multiwavelength lidar, Sun photometer, and radiosonde observations were conducted at Ouarzazate (30.9°N, 6.9°W, 1133 m above sea level, asl), Morocco, in the framework of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) in May–June 2006. The field site is close to the Saharan desert. Information on the depolarization ratio, backscatter and extinction coefficients, and lidar ratio of the dust particles, estimates of the available concentration of atmospheric ice nuclei at cloud level, profiles of temperature, humidity, and the horizontal wind vector as well as backward trajectory analysis are used to study cases of cloud formation in the dust with focus on heterogeneous ice formation. Surpris…