The interactions between clouds and aerosols represent one of the largest uncertainties in assessing the Earth's radiation budget, highlighting the importance of research on the transition zone(TZ) within the clou...The interactions between clouds and aerosols represent one of the largest uncertainties in assessing the Earth's radiation budget, highlighting the importance of research on the transition zone(TZ) within the cloud-aerosol continuum.This study assesses the global distribution of TZ conditions, analyzes its optical characteristics, and determines the cloud or aerosol types most commonly associated with them, using the cloud-aerosol discrimination(CAD) score of the CloudAerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization(CALIOP) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite. The CAD score classifies clouds and aerosols by the probability density functions of attenuated backscatter, total color ratio, volume depolarization ratio, altitude, and latitude. After applying several filters to avoid artifacts, the TZ was identified as those atmospheric layers that cannot be clearly classified as clouds or aerosols, layers within the no-confidence range(NCR) of the CAD score, and cirrus fringes. The optical characteristics of NCR layers exhibit two main clusters: Cluster 1, with properties between high-altitude ice clouds and aerosols(e.g., wispy cloud fragments), and Cluster 2, with properties between water clouds and aerosols at lower altitudes(e.g., large hydrated aerosols). Our results highlight the significant ubiquity of TZ conditions, which appear in 9.5% of all profiles and comprise 6.4% of the detected layers. Cluster 1 and cirrus-fringe layers predominate near the ITCZ and in mid-latitudes, whereas Cluster 2 layers are more frequent over the oceans along the central West African and East Asian coasts, where elevated smoke and dusty marine aerosols are common.展开更多
Studying the characteristics and mechanisms of convective and non-convective cirrus clouds over the South China Sea is vital for their impact on regional climate dynamics,and enhancing predictive models for weather an...Studying the characteristics and mechanisms of convective and non-convective cirrus clouds over the South China Sea is vital for their impact on regional climate dynamics,and enhancing predictive models for weather and climate forecasts.This study utilizes eight years of CALIPSO data(from March 2007 to February 2015)to investigate convective and non-convective cirrus clouds.Explicit new insights include the observation that convective cirrus cloud samples are three times more numerous than non-convective cirrus clouds.Convective cirrus clouds are associated with humid conditions and demonstrate higher ice water content(IWC)values ranging from 10^(−3)to 10^(−1)g m^(−3),whereas non-convective cirrus clouds tend to be drier,exhibiting IWC values ranging from 10^(−4)to 10^(−3)g m^(−3).Both cirrus cloud types exhibit a maximum cloud fraction at 10°N.Convective cirrus reach their peak cloud fraction at an altitude of 14 km,while non-convective cirrus typically occur at altitudes between 15 and 16 km.The seasonal variability of the convective cirrus cloud fraction primarily reflects bottom-up positive specific humidity anomalies originating from convective activity,whereas the non-convective cirrus cloud fraction is influenced by top-down negative temperature anomalies.展开更多
基金funded through project NUBOLOSYTI (PID2023149972NB-100) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN)supported by an IFUdG 2022 fellowship。
文摘The interactions between clouds and aerosols represent one of the largest uncertainties in assessing the Earth's radiation budget, highlighting the importance of research on the transition zone(TZ) within the cloud-aerosol continuum.This study assesses the global distribution of TZ conditions, analyzes its optical characteristics, and determines the cloud or aerosol types most commonly associated with them, using the cloud-aerosol discrimination(CAD) score of the CloudAerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization(CALIOP) instrument on the CALIPSO satellite. The CAD score classifies clouds and aerosols by the probability density functions of attenuated backscatter, total color ratio, volume depolarization ratio, altitude, and latitude. After applying several filters to avoid artifacts, the TZ was identified as those atmospheric layers that cannot be clearly classified as clouds or aerosols, layers within the no-confidence range(NCR) of the CAD score, and cirrus fringes. The optical characteristics of NCR layers exhibit two main clusters: Cluster 1, with properties between high-altitude ice clouds and aerosols(e.g., wispy cloud fragments), and Cluster 2, with properties between water clouds and aerosols at lower altitudes(e.g., large hydrated aerosols). Our results highlight the significant ubiquity of TZ conditions, which appear in 9.5% of all profiles and comprise 6.4% of the detected layers. Cluster 1 and cirrus-fringe layers predominate near the ITCZ and in mid-latitudes, whereas Cluster 2 layers are more frequent over the oceans along the central West African and East Asian coasts, where elevated smoke and dusty marine aerosols are common.
基金supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China[grant numbers 42027804,41775026,and 41075012]。
文摘Studying the characteristics and mechanisms of convective and non-convective cirrus clouds over the South China Sea is vital for their impact on regional climate dynamics,and enhancing predictive models for weather and climate forecasts.This study utilizes eight years of CALIPSO data(from March 2007 to February 2015)to investigate convective and non-convective cirrus clouds.Explicit new insights include the observation that convective cirrus cloud samples are three times more numerous than non-convective cirrus clouds.Convective cirrus clouds are associated with humid conditions and demonstrate higher ice water content(IWC)values ranging from 10^(−3)to 10^(−1)g m^(−3),whereas non-convective cirrus clouds tend to be drier,exhibiting IWC values ranging from 10^(−4)to 10^(−3)g m^(−3).Both cirrus cloud types exhibit a maximum cloud fraction at 10°N.Convective cirrus reach their peak cloud fraction at an altitude of 14 km,while non-convective cirrus typically occur at altitudes between 15 and 16 km.The seasonal variability of the convective cirrus cloud fraction primarily reflects bottom-up positive specific humidity anomalies originating from convective activity,whereas the non-convective cirrus cloud fraction is influenced by top-down negative temperature anomalies.
