The Influence of Free Tropospheric Aerosol on the Boundary Layer Aerosol Budget in the Arctic

Abstract:

Large-eddy simulations of the summertime high Arctic boundary layer with mixed-phase stratus clouds have been performed based on observations taken during the ASCOS[1] campaign. The model includes a prognostic aerosol scheme where accumulation mode aerosol particles can be activated into cloud droplets, impaction scavenged, and regenerated upon cloud droplet evaporation or ice crystal sublimation. Two sets of simulations were performed, one with a constant aerosol concentration in the boundary layer and free troposphere, and one with enhanced free tropospheric concentrations based on observed aerosol concentration profiles. We find that the rate of aerosol depletion in the boundary layer is an order of magnitude larger than the median surface emission rates measured over the open water, indicating that for the present case the surface emissions are unlikely to compensate for aerosol loss due to interactions with clouds. In this case study, when the enhanced free troposphere aerosol concentrations are included, the entrainment of these particles into the boundary layer is able to offset the loss of particles from aerosol-cloud interactions. These results suggest that enhanced levels of accumulation mode particles, if located at the cloud top, may be an important source of accumulation mode particles in the Arctic boundary layer.

[1] The Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS) was conducted in 2008 with the overall aim to improve our understanding of stratus cloud formation and possible climate feedback processes over the central Arctic Ocean. Tjernström et al., 2014 give more details.