Examining the Impact of Smoke on Frontal Clouds and Precipitation During the 2002 Yakutsk Wildfires Using the WRF‐Chem‐SMOKE Model and Satellite Data

Abstract In 2002, an enormous amount of smoke has been emitted from Yakutsk wildfires. In this study, we examine the impact of smoke on cloud properties and precipitation associated with frontal systems using the WRF‐Chem‐SMOKE model and satellite data. The smoke emissions are computed using the fire radiative power technique. Smoke particles are represented as an internal mixture of organic matter (OM), black carbon (BC), and other inorganic matter, and their microphysical and radiative effects are explicitly modeled. After examining the fire activities, we identified two fire periods (FP1 and FP2). During FP1, in the cloud deck with the high cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC), but the relatively small amount of ice nuclei (IN), the rain and snow water contents (RWC and SWC) were strongly reduced, because of suppressed collision‐coalescence and riming processes. The cloud cells acquired the longer lifetime and traveled farther downwind. During FP2, in the cloud deck with relatively high CDNC and IN, RWC was reduced; however, the large amounts of IN triggered the glaciation indirect effect and leaded to increased SWC. Due to the competing effects of CDNC and IN, changes in the cloud lifetime were small. Consequently, smoke‐induced changes in the total cloudiness cause a dipole feature. After the smoke was nearly consumed during FP1, the large‐scale dynamics of the frontal system was altered by smoke. The onset of the precipitation was delayed by 1 day. In FP2, the onset of the precipitation was not delayed but occurred at different locations, and the area‐averaged precipitation was slightly reduced (~0.5 mm/day).