Maritime Aerosol and CCN profiles derived from ship-based measurements
over Eastern North Pacific during MAGIC 2
Abstract
Atmospheric aerosols are widely recognized to give rise to a substantial
radiative forcing to the climate by scattering and absorbing radiation
and by modifying the microphysical, lifetime, and radiative properties
of clouds. During the Marine ARM GPCI Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC)
over the Eastern North Pacific (ENP), the ship-based measured cloud
condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration at 0.2% supersaturation
(NCCN,0.2) and condensation nuclei concentration (NCN) had mean values
of 116.7 and 219.4 cm-3, with the highest concentrations found closest
to LA due to an increase in aerosol sources. Moving westward, both
NCCN,0.2 and NCN gradually decreased until stabilizing near 100 cm-3 and
200 cm-3, respectively. Using the methods proposed by Ghan and Collins
(2004) and Ghan et al. (2006), NCCN,0.2 profiles are retrieved using the
surface measured NCCN,0.2 as a constraint. For coupled conditions,
correlations between the retrieved NCCN,0.2 profiles and cloud-droplet
number concentration (NC) increase from 0.26 at the surface to 0.38 near
cloud base, particularly true for non-drizzling clouds. Although the
correlations are lower than expected, the percentage increase (46.2%)
is encouraging. Finally, the relationships between cloud breakup (CB)
and the stratocumulus to cumulus transition (SCT) with environmental
conditions and associated aerosols are also studied. The decreased NCN
trend east of CB is mainly caused by precipitation scavenging, while the
increased NCN trend west of CB is strongly associated with the increased
surface wind speed and fewer drizzle events. A further study is needed
using high-resolution models to simulate these events.