Journal article
Model intercomparison of the impacts of varying cloud droplet nucleating aerosols on the lifecycle and microphysics of isolated deep convection
- Abstract:
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The microphysical impacts of aerosol particles on scattered isolated deep convective cells near Houston, Texas, on 19 June 2013, are examined using multiple cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulations initialized with vertical profiles of low and high concentrations of cloud droplet–nucleating aerosols. These simulations formed part of the Model Intercomparison Project (MIP) conducted by the Deep Convective Working Group of the Aerosol, Cloud, Precipitation and Climate (ACPC) initiative. Each CRM generated a field of convective cells representing those observed during the case study with varying degrees of accuracy. The Tracking and Object-Based Analysis of Clouds (tobac) cell-tracking algorithm was applied to each MIP CRM simulation to track relatively long-lived convective cells (20–60 min). Most of the CRMs produced similar aerosol loading impacts on the warm phase of tracked cell properties with reduced autoconversion and accretion growth of rain, increased cloud water, reduced rainfall, and reduced near-surface evaporation of rain. The sign of aerosol impacts on the warm-phase properties of the convective cells was also quite consistent over cell lifetimes with the greatest magnitude of influence in the first half of the life cycle in most CRMs. In contrast, the ice-phase response to aerosol loading was highly variable among CRMs and included increases or decreases in ice amounts at inconsistent stages of the cell life cycle and midlevel versus upper-level changes in ice. This intermodel variability in ice is indicative both of the complex indirect interactions between aerosols and ice-phase processes in deep convection and their associated parameterizations.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 4.3MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1175/jas-d-24-0181.1
Authors
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/0472cxd90
- Grant:
- 724602
- Publisher:
- American Meteorological Society
- Journal:
- Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences More from this journal
- Volume:
- 82
- Issue:
- 10
- Pages:
- 2197–2217
- Publication date:
- 2025-09-29
- Acceptance date:
- 2025-07-11
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1520-0469
- ISSN:
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0022-4928
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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2279795
- Local pid:
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pubs:2279795
- Deposit date:
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2025-08-28
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- American Meteorological Society
- Copyright date:
- 2025
- Rights statement:
- © 2025 American Meteorological Society. This published article is licensed under the terms of the default AMS reuse license. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).
- Notes:
- The author accepted manuscript (AAM) of this paper has been made available under the University of Oxford's Open Access Publications Policy, and a CC BY public copyright licence has been applied.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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