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Observations of the first aerosol indirect effect in shallow cumuli
Author(s) -
Berg Larry K.,
Berkowitz Carl M.,
Barnard James C.,
Senum Gunnar,
Springston Stephen R.
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1029/2010gl046047
Subject(s) - aerosol , environmental science , liquid water content , buoyancy , atmospheric sciences , cloud computing , meteorology , scattering , geology , physics , mechanics , computer science , optics , operating system
Data from the Cumulus Humilis Aerosol Processing Study (CHAPS) are used to estimate the impact of both aerosol indirect effects and cloud dynamics on the microphysical and optical properties of shallow cumuli observed in the vicinity of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Not surprisingly, we find that the amount of light scattered by clouds is dominated by their liquid water content (LWC), which in turn is driven by buoyancy and cloud dynamics. However, removing the effect of cloud dynamics by examining the scattering normalized by LWC shows a statistically significant sensitivity of scattering to pollutant loading (increasing at a rate of 0.002 m 2 g −1 ppbv −1 ). These results suggest that even moderately sized cities, like Oklahoma City, can have a measureable impact on the optical properties of shallow cumuli.