Reassessing the dependence of cloud condensation nucleus concentration on formation rate

Details Reassessing the dependence of cloud condensation nucleus concentration on formation rate Reassessing the dependence of cloud condensation nucleus concentration on formation rate

Feb 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994natur.367..445a&link_type=abstract

Nature (ISSN 0028-0836), vol. 367, no. 6462, p. 445-447

Mathematics

12

Air Water Interactions, Albedo, Atmospheric Boundary Layer, Atmospheric Radiation, Clouds (Meteorology), Condensation Nuclei, Energy Budgets, Marine Meteorology, Mathematical Models, Oceanography, Precipitation (Meteorology), Stratocumulus Clouds, Aerosols, Climatology, Stability, Thermodynamics

Scientific paper

Marine stratocumulus clouds play an important role in the Earth's radiation budget. The albedo of these clouds depends on the cloud droplet size distribution, and therefore, in part, on the number density of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). It has been postulated that a positive feedback loop between increased CCN concentrations and decreased drizzle gives rise to a bistable system, in which there are two equilibrium CCN concentration regimes. According to this model, CCN concentration is only weakly dependent on the CCN production rate within the stable regimes, but very strongly dependent on this rate in the transition region between the regimes. If correct, this strong dependence implies that a small increase in the production of CCN over the oceans could drastically increase the planetary albedo. Using a more sophisticated model than that used previously, we find no evidence for bistability. However, we find that CCN concentrations are generally strongly dependent on their production rate, so that changes in the latter would influence the Earth's albedo.

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