In this study Lagrangian large‐eddy simulation of cloudy mixed layers in evolving warm air masses in the Arctic is constrained by in situ observations from the recent PASCAL field campaign. A key ...novelty is that time dependence is maintained in the large‐scale forcings. An iterative procedure featuring large‐eddy simulation on microgrids is explored to calibrate the case setup, inspired by and making use of the typically long memory of Arctic air masses for upstream conditions. The simulated mixed‐phase clouds are part of a turbulent mixed layer that is weakly coupled to the surface and is occasionally capped by a shallow humidity layer. All eight simulated mixed layers exhibit a strong time evolution across a range of time scales, including diurnal but also synoptic fingerprints. A few cases experience rapid cloud collapse, coinciding with a rapid decrease in mixed‐layer depth. To gain insight, composite budget analyses are performed. In the mixed‐layer interior the heat and moisture budgets are dominated by turbulent transport, radiative cooling, and precipitation. However, near the thermal inversion the large‐scale vertical advection also contributes significantly, showing a distinct difference between subsidence and upsidence conditions. A bulk mass budget analysis reveals that entrainment deepening behaves almost time‐constantly, as long as clouds are present. In contrast, large‐scale subsidence fluctuates much more strongly and can both counteract and boost boundary‐layer deepening resulting from entrainment. Strong and sudden subsidence events following prolonged deepening periods are found to cause the cloud collapses, associated with a substantial reduction in the surface downward longwave radiative flux.
Key Points
Lagrangian LES of Arctic cloudy mixed layers in evolving warm air masses is constrained by in situ observations from the PASCAL field campaign
A novel iterative method relying on LES on microgrids is applied to optimize the case configuration and adjust biases in GCM‐derived forcings
Budget studies give insight into local and remote controls on AML evolution, suggesting large‐scale subsidence events can cause low‐level cloud collapse over the sea ice
During the 1-year MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition, the German icebreaker Polarstern drifted through Arctic Ocean ice from October 2019 to ...May 2020, mainly at latitudes between 85 and 88.5∘ N. A multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar was operated on board the research vessel and continuously monitored aerosol and cloud layers up to a height of 30 km. During our mission, we expected to observe a thin residual volcanic aerosol layer in the stratosphere, originating from the Raikoke volcanic eruption in June 2019, with an aerosol optical thickness (AOT) of 0.005–0.01 at 500 nm over the North Pole area during the winter season. However, the highlight of our measurements was the detection of a persistent, 10 km deep aerosol layer in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS), from about 7–8 to 17–18 km height, with clear and unambiguous wildfire smoke signatures up to 12 km and an order of magnitude higher AOT of around 0.1 in the autumn of 2019. Case studies are presented to explain the specific optical fingerprints of aged wildfire smoke in detail. The pronounced aerosol layer was present throughout the winter half-year until the strong polar vortex began to collapse in late April 2020.
We hypothesize that the detected smoke originated from extraordinarily intense and long-lasting wildfires in central and eastern Siberia in July and August 2019 and may have reached the tropopause layer by the self-lifting process. In this article, we summarize the main findings of our 7-month smoke observations and characterize the aerosol in terms of geometrical, optical, and microphysical properties. The UTLS AOT at 532 nm ranged from 0.05–0.12 in October–November 2019 and 0.03–0.06 during the main winter season. The Raikoke aerosol fraction was estimated to always be lower than 15 %. We assume that the volcanic aerosol was above the smoke layer (above 13 km height). As an unambiguous sign of the dominance of smoke in the main aerosol layer from 7–13 km height, the particle extinction-to-backscatter ratio (lidar ratio) at 355 nm was found to be much lower than at 532 nm, with mean values of 55 and 85 sr, respectively.
The 355–532 nm Ångström exponent of around 0.65 also clearly indicated the presence of smoke aerosol.
For the first time, we show a distinct view of the aerosol layering features in the High Arctic from the surface up to 30 km height during the winter half-year.
Finally, we provide a vertically resolved view on the late winter and early spring conditions regarding ozone depletion, smoke occurrence, and polar stratospheric cloud formation. The latter will largely stimulate research on a potential impact of the unexpected stratospheric aerosol perturbation on the record-breaking ozone depletion in the Arctic in spring 2020.
An advanced multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar was operated aboard the icebreaker Polarstern during the MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) ...expedition to continuously monitor aerosol and cloud layers in the central Arctic up to 30 km height. The expedition lasted from September 2019 to October 2020 and measurements were mostly taken between 85 and 88.5∘ N. The lidar was integrated into a complex remote-sensing infrastructure aboard the Polarstern.
In this article, novel lidar techniques, innovative concepts to study aerosol–cloud interaction in the Arctic, and unique MOSAiC findings will be presented.
The highlight of the lidar measurements was the detection of a 10 km deep wildfire smoke layer over the North Pole region between 7–8 km and 17–18 km height with an aerosol optical thickness (AOT) at 532 nm of around 0.1 (in October–November 2019) and 0.05 from December to March. The dual-wavelength Raman lidar technique allowed us to unambiguously identify smoke as the dominating aerosol type in the aerosol layer in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). An additional contribution to the 532 nm AOT by volcanic sulfate aerosol (Raikoke eruption) was estimated to always be lower than 15 %. The optical and microphysical properties of the UTLS smoke layer are presented in an accompanying paper (Ohneiser et al., 2021).
This smoke event offered the unique opportunity to study the influence of organic aerosol particles (serving as ice-nucleating particles, INPs) on cirrus formation in the upper troposphere. An example of a closure study is presented to explain our concept of investigating aerosol–cloud interaction in this field. The smoke particles were obviously able to control the evolution of the cirrus system and caused low ice crystal number concentration. After the discussion of two typical Arctic haze events, we present a case study of the evolution of a long-lasting mixed-phase cloud layer embedded in Arctic haze in the free troposphere. The recently introduced dual-field-of-view polarization lidar technique was applied, for the first time, to mixed-phase cloud observations in order to determine the microphysical properties of the water droplets. The mixed-phase cloud closure experiment (based on combined lidar and radar observations) indicated that the observed aerosol levels controlled the number concentrations of nucleated droplets and ice crystals.
To investigate the influence of sea ice openings like leads on wintertime Arctic clouds, the air mass transport is exploited as a heat and humidity feeding mechanism which can modify Arctic cloud ...properties. Cloud microphysical properties in the central Arctic are analysed as a function of sea ice conditions during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition in 2019–2020. The Cloudnet classification algorithm is used to characterize the clouds based on remote sensing observations and the atmospheric thermodynamic state from the observatory on board the research vessel (RV) Polarstern. To link the sea ice conditions around the observational site with the cloud observations, the water vapour transport (WVT) being conveyed towards RV Polarstern has been utilized as a mechanism to associate upwind sea ice conditions with the measured cloud properties. This novel methodology is used to classify the observed clouds as coupled or decoupled to the WVT based on the location of the maximum vertical gradient of WVT height relative to the cloud-driven mixing layer. Only a conical sub-sector of sea ice concentration (SIC) and the lead fraction (LF) centred on the RV Polarstern location and extending up to 50 km in radius and with an azimuth angle governed by the time-dependent wind direction measured at the maximum WVT is related to the observed clouds. We found significant asymmetries for cases when the clouds are coupled or decoupled to the WVT and selected by LF regimes. Liquid water path of low-level clouds is found to increase as a function of LF, while the ice water path does so only for deep precipitating systems. Clouds coupled to WVT are found to generally have a lower cloud base and larger thickness than decoupled clouds. Thermodynamically, for coupled cases the cloud-top temperature is warmer and accompanied by a temperature inversion at the cloud top, whereas the decoupled cases are found to be closely compliant with the moist adiabatic temperature lapse rate. The ice water fraction within the cloud layer has been found to present a noticeable asymmetry when comparing coupled versus decoupled cases. This novel approach of coupling sea ice to cloud properties via the WVT mechanism unfolds a new tool to study Arctic surface–atmosphere processes. With this formulation, long-term observations can be analysed to enforce the statistical significance of the asymmetries. Furthermore, our results serve as an opportunity to better understand the dynamic linkage between clouds and sea ice and to evaluate its representation in numerical climate models for the Arctic system.
A record-breaking stratospheric ozone loss was observed over the Arctic and Antarctica in 2020. Strong ozone depletion occurred over Antarctica in 2021 as well. The ozone holes developed in ...smoke-polluted air. In this article, the impact of Siberian and Australian wildfire smoke (dominated by organic aerosol) on the extraordinarily strong ozone reduction is discussed. The study is based on aerosol lidar observations in the North Pole region (October 2019–May 2020) and over Punta Arenas in southern Chile at 53.2∘ S (January 2020–November 2021) as well as on respective NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) ozone profile observations in the Arctic (Ny-Ålesund) and Antarctica (Neumayer and South Pole stations) in 2020 and 2021. We present a conceptual approach on how the smoke may have influenced the formation of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), which are of key importance in the ozone-depleting processes.
The main results are as follows: (a) the direct impact of wildfire smoke below the PSC height range (at 10–12 km) on ozone reduction seems to be similar to well-known volcanic sulfate aerosol effects. At heights of 10–12 km, smoke particle surface area (SA) concentrations of 5–7 µm2 cm−3 (Antarctica, spring 2021) and 6–10 µm2 cm−3 (Arctic, spring 2020) were correlated with an ozone reduction in terms of ozone partial pressure of 0.4–1.2 mPa (about 30 % further ozone reduction over Antarctica) and of 2–3.5 mPa (Arctic, 20 %–30 % reduction with respect to the long-term springtime mean).
(b) Within the PSC height range, we found indications that smoke was able to slightly increase the PSC particle number and surface area concentration. In particular, a smoke-related additional ozone loss of 1–2 mPa (10 %–20 % contribution to the total ozone loss over Antarctica) was observed in the 14–23 km PSC height range in September–October 2020 and 2021. Smoke particle number concentrations ranged from 10 to 100 cm−3 and were about a factor of 10 (in 2020) and 5 (in 2021) above the stratospheric aerosol background level. Satellite observations indicated an additional mean column ozone loss (deviation from the long-term mean) of 26–30 Dobson units (9 %–10 %, September 2020, 2021) and 52–57 Dobson units (17 %–20 %, October 2020, 2021) in the smoke-polluted latitudinal Antarctic belt from 70–80∘ S.
Specific humidity inversions (SHIs) above low-level cloud layers have been frequently observed in the Arctic. The formation of these SHIs is usually associated with large-scale advection of humid air ...masses. However, the potential coupling of SHIs with cloud layers by turbulent processes is not fully understood. In this study, we analyze a 3 d period of a persistent layer of increased specific humidity above a stratocumulus cloud observed during an Arctic field campaign in June 2017. The tethered balloon system BELUGA (Balloon-bornE moduLar Utility for profilinG the lower Atmosphere) recorded vertical profile data of meteorological, turbulence, and radiation parameters in the atmospheric boundary layer. An in-depth discussion of the problems associated with humidity measurements in cloudy environments leads to the conclusion that the observed SHIs do not result from measurement artifacts. We analyze two different scenarios for the SHI in relation to the cloud top capped by a temperature inversion: (i) the SHI coincides with the cloud top, and (ii) the SHI is vertically separated from the lowered cloud top. In the first case, the SHI and the cloud layer are coupled by turbulence that extends over the cloud top and connects the two layers by turbulent mixing. Several profiles reveal downward virtual sensible and latent heat fluxes at the cloud top, indicating entrainment of humid air supplied by the SHI into the cloud layer. For the second case, a downward moisture transport at the base of the SHI and an upward moisture flux at the cloud top is observed. Therefore, the area between the cloud top and SHI is supplied with moisture from both sides. Finally, large-eddy simulations (LESs) complement the observations by modeling a case of the first scenario. The simulations reproduce the observed downward turbulent fluxes of heat and moisture at the cloud top. The LES realizations suggest that in the presence of a SHI, the cloud layer remains thicker and the temperature inversion height is elevated.
The MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition was the largest Arctic field campaign ever conducted. MOSAiC offered the unique opportunity to monitor ...and characterize aerosols and clouds with high vertical resolution up to 30 km height at latitudes from 80 to 90∘ N over an entire year (October 2019 to September 2020). Without a clear knowledge of the complex aerosol layering, vertical structures, and dominant aerosol types and their impact on cloud formation, a full understanding of the meteorological processes in the Arctic, and thus advanced climate change research, is impossible. Widespread ground-based in situ observations in the Arctic are insufficient to provide these required aerosol and cloud data.
In this article, a summary of our MOSAiC observations of tropospheric aerosol profiles with a state-of-the-art multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar aboard the icebreaker Polarstern is presented. Particle optical properties, i.e., light-extinction profiles and aerosol optical thickness (AOT), and estimates of cloud-relevant aerosol properties such as the number concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are discussed, separately for the lowest part of the troposphere (atmospheric boundary layer, ABL), within the lower free troposphere (around 2000 m height), and at the cirrus level close to the tropopause. In situ observations of the particle number concentration and INPs aboard Polarstern are included in the study. A strong decrease in the aerosol amount with height in winter and moderate vertical variations in summer were observed in terms of the particle extinction coefficient. The 532 nm light-extinction values dropped from >50 Mm−1 close to the surface to <5 Mm−1 at 4–6 km height in the winter months. Lofted, aged wildfire smoke layers caused a re-increase in the aerosol concentration towards the tropopause. In summer (June to August 2020), much lower particle extinction coefficients, frequently as low as 1–5 Mm−1, were observed in the ABL. Aerosol removal, controlled by in-cloud and below-cloud scavenging processes (widely suppressed in winter and very efficient in summer) in the lowermost 1–2 km of the atmosphere, seems to be the main reason for the strong differences between winter and summer aerosol conditions. A complete annual cycle of the AOT in the central Arctic could be measured. This is a valuable addition to the summertime observations with the sun photometers of the Arctic Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET).
In line with the pronounced annual cycle in the aerosol optical properties, typical CCN number concentrations (0.2 % supersaturation level) ranged from 50–500 cm−3 in winter to 10–100 cm−3 in summer in the ABL. In the lower free troposphere (at 2000 m), however, the CCN level was roughly constant throughout the year, with values mostly from 30 to 100 cm−3.
A strong contrast between winter and summer was also given in terms of ABL INPs which control ice production in low-level clouds. While soil dust (from surrounding continents) is probably the main INP type during the autumn, winter, and spring months, local sea spray aerosol (with a biogenic aerosol component) seems to dominate the ice nucleation in the ABL during the summer months (June–August). The strong winter vs. summer contrast in the INP number concentration by roughly 2–3 orders of magnitude in the lower troposphere is, however, mainly caused by the strong cloud temperature contrast. A unique event of the MOSAiC expedition was the occurrence of a long-lasting wildfire smoke layer in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Our observations suggest that the smoke particles frequently triggered cirrus formation close to the tropopause from October 2019 to May 2020.
In the Arctic summer of 2017 (1 June to 16 July) measurements with the
OCEANET-Atmosphere facility were performed during the Polarstern cruise
PS106. OCEANET comprises amongst other instruments the ...multiwavelength
polarization lidar PollyXT_OCEANET and for PS106 was complemented
with a vertically pointed 35 GHz cloud radar. In the scope of the
presented study, the influence of cloud height and surface coupling on the
probability of clouds to contain and form ice is investigated. Polarimetric
lidar data were used for the detection of the cloud base and the identification
of the thermodynamic phase. Both radar and lidar were used to detect cloud
top. Radiosonde data were used to derive the thermodynamic structure of the
atmosphere and the clouds. The analyzed data set shows a significant impact of
the surface-coupling state on the probability of ice
formation. Surface-coupled clouds were identified by a quasi-constant
potential temperature profile from the surface up to liquid layer base. Within
the same minimum cloud temperature range, ice-containing clouds have been
observed more frequently than surface-decoupled clouds by a factor of up to 6
(temperature intervals between −7.5 and −5 ∘C, 164 vs. 27
analyzed intervals of 30 min). The frequency of occurrence of
surface-coupled ice-containing clouds was found to be 2–3 times higher
(e.g., 82 % vs. 35 % between −7.5 and
−5 ∘C). These findings provide evidence that above
−10 ∘C heterogeneous ice formation in Arctic mixed-phase
clouds occurs by a factor of 2–6 more often when the cloud layer is coupled
to the surface. In turn, for minimum cloud temperatures below
−15 ∘C, the frequency of ice-containing clouds for coupled
and decoupled conditions approached the respective curve for the
central European site of Leipzig, Germany (51∘ N,
12∘ E). This corroborates the hypothesis that the free-tropospheric ice
nucleating particle (INP) reservoir over the Arctic is controlled by
continental aerosol. Two sensitivity studies, also using the cloud radar for
detection of ice particles and applying a modified coupling state detection,
both confirmed the findings, albeit with a lower magnitude. Possible
explanations for the observations are discussed by considering recent in situ
measurements of INP in the Arctic, of which much higher concentrations were
found in the surface-coupled atmosphere in close vicinity to the ice shore.
Clouds are frequently composed of more than one particle population even at the smallest scales. Cloud radar observations frequently contain information on multiple particle species in the ...observation volume when there are distinct peaks in the Doppler spectrum. Multi-peaked situations are not taken into account by established algorithms, which only use moments of the Doppler spectrum. In this study, we propose a new algorithm that recursively represents the subpeaks as nodes in a binary tree. Using this tree data structure to represent the peaks of a Doppler spectrum, it is possible to drop all a priori assumptions on the number and arrangement of subpeaks. The approach is rigid, unambiguous and can provide a basis for advanced analysis methods. The applicability is briefly demonstrated in two case studies, in which the tree structure was used to investigate particle populations in Arctic multilayered mixed-phase clouds, which were observed during the research vessel Polarstern expedition PS106 and the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program BAECC campaign.
The role of clouds in recent Arctic warming is not fully understood,
including their effects on the solar radiation and the surface
energy budget. To investigate relevant small-scale processes in ...detail, the intensive Physical feedbacks of Arctic planetary boundary layer, Sea ice, Cloud and AerosoL
(PASCAL) drifting ice floe station field campaign was conducted during early summer in the central arctic. During this campaign, the small-scale spatiotemporal
variability of global irradiance was observed for the first time on an
ice floe with a dense network of autonomous pyranometers. A total of 15 stations
were deployed covering an area of 0.83 km×1.59 km from
4–16 June 2017. This unique, open-access dataset is described here,
and an analysis of the spatiotemporal variability deduced from this
dataset is presented for different synoptic conditions. Based on
additional observations, five typical sky conditions were identified and
used to determine the values of the mean and variance of atmospheric
global transmittance for these conditions. Overcast conditions were
observed 39.6 % of the time predominantly during the first week, with
an overall mean transmittance of 0.47. The second most frequent
conditions corresponded to multilayer clouds (32.4 %), which
prevailed in particular during the second week, with a mean
transmittance of 0.43. Broken clouds had a mean transmittance of 0.61
and a frequency of occurrence of 22.1 %. Finally, the least frequent
sky conditions were thin clouds and cloudless conditions, which both
had a mean transmittance of 0.76 and occurrence frequencies of 3.5 %
and 2.4 %, respectively. For overcast conditions, lower global
irradiance was observed for stations closer to the ice edge, likely
attributable to the low surface albedo of dark open water and a
resulting reduction of multiple reflections between the surface and
cloud base. Using a wavelet-based multi-resolution analysis, power
spectra of the time series of atmospheric transmittance were compared
for single-station and spatially averaged observations and for
different sky conditions. It is shown that both the absolute magnitude
and the scale dependence of variability contains characteristic
features for the different sky conditions.
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