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Michigan Technological University

Marine stratocumulus

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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Effect Of Coarse Marine Aerosols On Stratocumulus Clouds, Yoav Lehahn, Ilan Koren, Orit Altaratz, Alexander Kostinski Oct 2011

Effect Of Coarse Marine Aerosols On Stratocumulus Clouds, Yoav Lehahn, Ilan Koren, Orit Altaratz, Alexander Kostinski

Department of Physics Publications

In contrast to fine anthropogenic aerosols (radii ∼μm), large aerosol particles are thought to enhance cloud droplet growth, promote precipitation formation and reduce cloud albedo. While shown in cloud simulation models, the impact of coarse aerosols on marine stratocumulus clouds lacks observational evidence. Here, by combining data from AMSR‐E and MODIS, both aboard NASA's satellite Aqua, we link the amount of coarse marine aerosols emitted to the atmosphere through wind‐driven processes with the size of cloud droplets, at the world's largest deck of marine stratocumulus clouds over the southeastern Pacific. For constrained meteorological conditions, approximately 1/2 of the change in …


Drizzle Rates Versus Cloud Depths For Marine Stratocumuli, A. B. Kostinski Dec 2008

Drizzle Rates Versus Cloud Depths For Marine Stratocumuli, A. B. Kostinski

Department of Physics Publications

Marine stratocumuli make a major contribution to Earth’s radiation budget. Drizzle in such clouds can greatly affect their albedo, lifetime and fractional coverage, so drizzle rate prediction is important. Here we examine a question: does a drizzle rate (R) depend on cloud depth (H) and/or drop number concentration n in a simple way? This question was raised empirically in several recent publications and an approximate H3/n dependence was observed. Here we suggest a simple explanation for H3 scaling from viewing the drizzle rate as a sedimenting volume fraction ( f ) of water drops (radius r) in air, i.e. R …