Clouds and aerosols
New weather and climate research on clouds and aerosols, one page per paper.
All summaries
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Clouds and aerosolsHydrogen aircraft contrail cirrus forcing is modelled as 66 % lower than for jet fuel
In a model, hydrogen-powered aircraft make contrail cirrus with much less warming than jet fuel aircraft in most cases, but lubrication oil droplets could erase the benefit.
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Clouds and aerosolsRealistic particle size and mixing shift black carbon radiative forcing in a coal region
In an industrial coal region of Shanxi, using the observed three-peak particle size and internal mixing, instead of simple standard assumptions, changes estimated absorption and radiative forcing by amounts comparable to local greenhouse gas forcing.
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Clouds and aerosolsTen-member ICON ensemble with two-moment ice scheme detects more ice-supersaturated air
Adding a two-moment ice scheme and a ten-member ensemble to the ICON model raises the share of ice-supersaturated regions detected from 0.4 to 0.6 for one run, and to 0.8 for a three-member vote.
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Clouds and aerosolsSaharan dust reached Monte Cimone on 15.8 % of days over 21 years, with no trend
Over 2003–2023, Saharan dust reached an Italian mountain station on about 58 days a year, with no trend, and longer summer events brought the largest coarse-particle rises.
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Clouds and aerosolsSatellite data show dust above WHO limits in most of 81 large cities
Using 16 years of satellite lidar data, the authors find that dust in the lowest atmospheric layer exceeds WHO annual guidelines for fine particles in 87.7 % of 81 large cities, though dust is mostly declining.
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Clouds and aerosolsSaharan dust cut Argentière Glacier's 2022 mass balance by 0.63 m w.e., double earlier years
In a snow model of Argentière Glacier, mineral dust lowered annual surface mass balance by 0.31 to 0.45 m w.e. in 2019–2021 and by 0.63 m w.e. in 2022, most strongly just above the previous summer's snowline.
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Clouds and aerosolsPM2.5 in south China fell 2007–2020 while nitrate's share doubled and aerosol acidity dropped
Winter PM2.5 at a Pearl River Delta background site fell from 87.1 to 34.0 µg m−3 over 14 years, but nitrate dropped more slowly than sulfate, so secondary species and nitrate now matter more.
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Clouds and aerosolsGraupel and supercooled rain predict lightning better than ZDR columns at 6 minutes
In 15 isolated South China thunderstorms, graupel and supercooled rain content gave the best 6-minute lightning forecasts, while ZDR column volume looked better at 12 minutes.
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Clouds and aerosolsNine climate models disagree widely on dust forcing, but agree dust cuts precipitation
When nine CMIP6 models double dust emissions, they differ a lot in how much energy dust adds or removes, yet eight of nine show less precipitation.
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Clouds and aerosolsArctic mixed-phase clouds lasted by constantly forming new droplets, with plentiful ice nuclei
Year-round lidar and radar data from near the North Pole suggest long-lived Arctic mixed-phase clouds persist because new droplets keep forming and ice-nucleating particles never run short.