Baiwan Pan, Dantong Liu, Ping Tian, Delong Zhao, Yuanmou Du, Siyuan Li, Kang Hu, Dawei Hu, Bing Sun, Chenjie Yu, Ying Chen, Weijun Li, Mengyu Huang, Honghui Xu, Shuangzhi You
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The temperature for cloud glaciation importantly determines the initialization of precipitation and lifetime of clouds. The role of anthropogenic pollutants as ice nucleating particles (INPs) to determine the cloud glaciation remains uncertain. In this study, based on satellite radar and lidar observations, the clouds either in pure liquid or mixed-phase with liquid top were statistically analyzed over China during 2006–2019, to obtain the transition freezing temperature (T*) of cloud top where mixed-phase becomes more frequent than pure water, with further validation by the aircraft in situ measurements. Anthropogenic pollution was observed to raise T* up to −9°C, significantly increasing it by approximately 5°C per unit of aerosol optical depth. The results provide regional-scale evidence that anthropogenic pollutants act as efficient INPs, increasing the freezing temperature of mixed-phase clouds.
期刊介绍:
Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) publishes high-impact, innovative, and timely research on major scientific advances in all the major geoscience disciplines. Papers are communications-length articles and should have broad and immediate implications in their discipline or across the geosciences. GRLmaintains the fastest turn-around of all high-impact publications in the geosciences and works closely with authors to ensure broad visibility of top papers.