Record Details
Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distributions and their impacts on climate
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distributions and their impacts on climate |
| Names |
DeMott, P. J.
(creator) Prenni, A. J. (creator) Liu, X. (creator) Kreidenweis, S. M. (creator) Petters, M. D. (creator) Twohy, Cynthia (creator) Richardson, M. S. (creator) Eidhammer, T. (creator) Rogers, D. C. (creator) |
| Date Issued | 2010-06-22 (iso8601) |
| Note | This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America and can be found at: http://www.pnas.org/. |
| Abstract | Knowledge of cloud and precipitation formation processes remains incomplete, yet global precipitation is predominantly produced by clouds containing the ice phase. Ice first forms in clouds warmer than −36 °C on particles termed ice nuclei. We combine observations from field studies over a 14-year period, from a variety of locations around the globe, to show that the concentrations of ice nuclei active in mixed-phase cloud conditions can be related to temperature and the number concentrations of particles larger than 0.5 μmin diameter. This new relationship reduces unexplained variability in ice nuclei concentrations at a given temperature from ~10³ to less than a factor of 10, with the remaining variability apparently due to variations in aerosol chemical composition or other factors. When implemented in a global climate model, the new parameterization strongly alters cloud liquid and ice water distributions compared to the simple, temperature-only parameterizations currently widely used. The revised treatment indicates a global net cloud radiative forcing increase of ~1 Wm⁻² for each order of magnitude increase in ice nuclei concentrations, demonstrating the strong sensitivity of climate simulations to assumptions regarding the initiation of cloud glaciation. |
| Genre | Article |
| Topic | aerosol indirect effects |
| Identifier | DeMott, P. J., Prenni, A. J., Liu, X., Kreidenweis, S. M., Petters, M. D., Twohy, C. H., et al. (2010, June 22). Predicting global atmospheric ice nuclei distributions and their impacts on climate [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 107(25), 11217-11222. doi:10.1073/pnas.0910818107 |
