A multi-year data set on aerosol-cloud-precipitation-meteorology interactions for marine stratocumulus clouds

Abstract

Airborne measurements of meteorological, aerosol, and stratocumulus cloud properties have been harmonized from six field campaigns during July-August months between 2005 and 2016 off the California coast. A consistent set of core instruments was deployed on the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely-Piloted Aircraft Studies Twin Otter for 113 flight days, amounting to 514 flight hours. A unique aspect of the compiled data set is detailed measurements of aerosol microphysical properties (size distribution, composition, bioaerosol detection, hygroscopicity, optical), cloud water composition, and different sampling inlets to distinguish between clear air aerosol, interstitial in-cloud aerosol, and droplet residual particles in cloud. Measurements and data analysis follow documented methods for quality assurance. The data set is suitable for studies associated with aerosol-cloud-precipitation-meteorology-radiation interactions, especially owing to sharp aerosol perturbations from ship traffic and biomass burning. The data set can be used for model initialization and synergistic application with meteorological models and remote sensing data to improve understanding of the very interactions that comprise the largest uncertainty in the effect of anthropogenic emissions on radiative forcing.

Atmospheric Research Over the Western North Atlantic Ocean Region and North American East Coast: A Review of Past Work and Challenges Ahead

“…More specifically, Table shows that out of the ~710 published works identified for the WNAO region, only 24 by our count directly examined ACI topics. This is in sharp contrast with the western coast of the United States where the majority of past research studies have investigated ACI (Sorooshian et al, , and references therein), many of which were rooted in understanding the nature of ship tracks (Russell et al, , and references therein).…”

“…Sanchez et al () further explored the seasonal aerosol variability during NAAMES and concluded that changes in the ocean ecosystem and resulting DMS emissions give rise to an increased aerosol SO 4 2‐ contribution to CCN observed during springtime bloom periods, both from new particle formation and from condensation onto existing particles. The NAAMES aerosol‐cloud sampling strategy followed a similar set of stacked aircraft legs used by others in ACI‐focused campaigns (Crosbie et al, ; Sorooshian et al, ) and sampled clouds under both typical marine aerosol loadings (order of hundreds per cm 3 of air) and severely aerosol‐depleted conditions (order of tens per cm 3 of air).…”

Biomass Burning Plumes in the Vicinity of the California Coast: Airborne Characterization of Physicochemical Properties, Heating Rates, and Spatiotemporal Features

“…The Nucleation in California Experiment (NiCE) took place in July–August 2013 and the Fog And Stratocumulus Evolution (FASE) experiment was conducted from July–August 2016. All relevant details about the aircraft measurements, including quality control and assurance protocols of each instrument, are summarized by Sorooshian et al (). This work examined sounding data collected during NiCE and FASE.…”

“…Past work in this study region (Prabhakar et al, ) and others (Capes et al, ; Johnson et al, ) have demonstrated the validity of PCASP data for BB detection. The specific criterion of N a exceeding 1,000 cm −3 was calculated based on data from 352 vertical soundings collected over 73 research flights with no BB influence (based on visual/olfactory evidence and lack of particle concentration enhancement), as part of NiCE, FASE, and four other campaigns in the same study region (Sorooshian et al, ): the Marine Stratus/Stratocumulus Experiments (MASE I, MASE II), the Eastern Pacific Emitted Aerosol Cloud Experiment (E‐PEACE), and the Biological and Oceanic Atmospheric Study (BOAS). For these 352 soundings, the average and standard deviation of N a were calculated for the vertical layer of 0–200 m above cloud tops: 272 ± 223 cm −3 .…”

Cloud Adiabaticity and Its Relationship to Marine Stratocumulus Characteristics Over the Northeast Pacific Ocean

“…All aircraft data used in this work can be found in the Figshare database (Sorooshian et al, ; https://figshare.com/articles/A_Multi-Year_Data_Set_on_Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation-Meteorology_Interactions_for_Marine_Stratocumulus_Clouds/5099983). This work was funded by Office of Naval Research grants N00014‐10‐1‐0811, N00014‐11‐1‐0783, N00014‐10‐1‐0200, N00014‐04‐1‐0118, and N00014‐16‐1‐2567.…”