Contrasting Ice Nucleation Characteristics in Mixed-phase Clouds over the North and South Poles Using Remote-Sensing Measurements
Authors
Damao Zhang — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Zhien Wang — University of Colorado
Andrew M. Vogelmann — Brookhaven National Laboratory
Xiaohong Liu — Texas A&M University
Meng Zhang — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Category
High-latitude clouds and aerosols
Description
Mixed-phase Clouds (MPCs) are prevalent and greatly impact radiative fluxes over both the North and South polar regions. However, MPCs are still poorly simulated in climate models largely due to the poor understanding of the complex ice nucleation mechanisms in MPCs. In this study, ice nucleation characteristics and their seasonal variations over both the North and South polar regions are first analyzed with multi-year A-Train satellite measurements. Then, databases of MPCs (include cloud fraction, cloud boundaries, LWP/LWP, LWC/IWC, and ice concentration) over both McMurdo AWARE and NSA sites are built using ground remote-sensing measurements. Differences of the ice nucleation characteristics over the North and South Poles are connected to the dynamic environments and aerosol differences. Finally, multiple years of the Cloud-Associated Parameterizations Testbed (CAPT) simulations are analyzed to assess model performance of simulating MPCs and their seasonal variations over both the North and South Poles.
