Premium
Aerosol optical depth distribution in extratropical cyclones over the Northern Hemisphere oceans
Author(s) -
Naud Catherine M.,
Posselt Derek J.,
Heever Susan C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl070953
Subject(s) - extratropical cyclone , aerosol , environmental science , northern hemisphere , climatology , middle latitudes , atmospheric sciences , cyclone (programming language) , moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer , precipitation , southern hemisphere , warm front , geology , meteorology , satellite , oceanography , geography , field programmable gate array , aerospace engineering , computer science , computer hardware , engineering
Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer and an extratropical cyclone database, the climatological distribution of aerosol optical depth (AOD) in extratropical cyclones is explored based solely on observations. Cyclone‐centered composites of aerosol optical depth are constructed for the Northern Hemisphere midlatitude ocean regions, and their seasonal variations are examined. These composites are found to be qualitatively stable when the impact of clouds and surface insolation or brightness is tested. The larger AODs occur in spring and summer and are preferentially found in the warm frontal and in the postcold frontal regions in all seasons. The fine mode aerosols dominate the cold sector AODs, but the coarse mode aerosols display large AODs in the warm sector. These differences between the aerosol modes are related to the varying source regions of the aerosols and could potentially have different impacts on cloud and precipitation within the cyclones.