Using statistical comparisons between simulations and ARM observations to understand physical processes controlling midlatitude cirrus bulk properties
Authors
Eric Jensen — NASA - Ames Research Center
Paul Lawson — SPEC, Inc.
Leonhard Pfister — NASA - Ames Research Center
Gerald Mace — University of Utah
Category
Infrastructure & Outreach
Description
The 2010 DOE Small Particles In Cirrus (SPARTICUS) and the 2011 NASA Midlatitude Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX) provided extensive data sets of midlatitude cirrus clouds with new instrumentation designed to minimize shattering artifacts and with sufficient time response to image particles as small as 10 um. In addition, the long-term radar and lidar measurements at the ARM SGP site provide cirrus bulk properties (ice water content, extinction, and effective radius). We will first present statistics of midlatitude cirrus microphysical properties. Next, we will compare the measured cirrus microphysical property statistics with results from ensembles of detailed process-model simulations driven by meteorological analyses and including small-scale waves. Sensitivity studies will be used to evaluate the relative importance of different cloud physical processes (heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation, deposition growth, sublimation, sedimentation, and aggregation) in controlling the ice concentrations, ice water content, extinction, and effective radius. We will show that small-scale waves that are not resolved in meteorological analyses are critical for producing high ice concentrations that are occasionally observed.
