Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles

Jiwen Fan; Daniel Rosenfeld; Yuwei Zhang; Scott E Giangrande; Zhanqing Li; Luiz A T Machado; Scot T Martin; Yan Yang; Jian Wang; Paulo Artaxo; Henrique M J Barbosa; Ramon C Braga; Jennifer M Comstock; Zhe Feng; Wenhua Gao; Helber B Gomes; Fan Mei; Christopher Pöhlker; Mira L Pöhlker; Ulrich Pöschl; Rodrigo A F de Souza

doi:10.1126/science.aan8461

Substantial convection and precipitation enhancements by ultrafine aerosol particles

Science. 2018 Jan 26;359(6374):411-418. doi: 10.1126/science.aan8461.

Authors

Jiwen Fan¹, Daniel Rosenfeld², Yuwei Zhang^{3

4}, Scott E Giangrande⁵, Zhanqing Li^{4

6}, Luiz A T Machado⁷, Scot T Martin⁸, Yan Yang^{3

9}, Jian Wang⁵, Paulo Artaxo¹⁰, Henrique M J Barbosa^{10

11}, Ramon C Braga⁷, Jennifer M Comstock³, Zhe Feng³, Wenhua Gao^{3

12}, Helber B Gomes¹³, Fan Mei³, Christopher Pöhlker¹⁴, Mira L Pöhlker¹⁴, Ulrich Pöschl^{14

15}, Rodrigo A F de Souza¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA. [email protected].
² Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
³ Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
⁴ Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science and ESSIC, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
⁵ Environmental and Climate Sciences Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, USA.
⁶ State Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology, GCESS, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁷ Centro de Previsão de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil.
⁸ School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Beijing Municipal Weather Modification Office, Beijing 100089, China.
¹⁰ Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão 1371, 05508-090 São Paulo, Brazil.
¹¹ Department of Physics, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100086, China.
¹³ Atmospheric and Climate Dynamics Laboratory, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Brazil.
¹⁴ Multiphase Chemistry and Biogeochemistry Departments, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55020 Mainz, Germany.
¹⁵ Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55122 Mainz, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Meteorology, School of Technology, Amazonas State University (UEA), Manaus-AM, Brazil.

PMID: 29371462
DOI: 10.1126/science.aan8461

Abstract

Aerosol-cloud interactions remain the largest uncertainty in climate projections. Ultrafine aerosol particles smaller than 50 nanometers (UAP_<50) can be abundant in the troposphere but are conventionally considered too small to affect cloud formation. Observational evidence and numerical simulations of deep convective clouds (DCCs) over the Amazon show that DCCs forming in a low-aerosol environment can develop very large vapor supersaturation because fast droplet coalescence reduces integrated droplet surface area and subsequent condensation. UAP_<50 from pollution plumes that are ingested into such clouds can be activated to form additional cloud droplets on which excess supersaturation condenses and forms additional cloud water and latent heating, thus intensifying convective strength. This mechanism suggests a strong anthropogenic invigoration of DCCs in previously pristine regions of the world.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't