skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Attention:

The NSF Public Access Repository (NSF-PAR) system and access will be unavailable from 10:00 PM ET on Thursday, March 12 until 2:00 AM ET on Friday, March 13 due to maintenance. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Coarse sea spray inhibits lightning
Abstract The known effects of thermodynamics and aerosols can well explain the thunderstorm activity over land, but fail over oceans. Here, tracking the full lifecycle of tropical deep convective cloud clusters shows that adding fine aerosols significantly increases the lightning density for a given rainfall amount over both ocean and land. In contrast, adding coarse sea salt (dry radius > 1 μm), known as sea spray, weakens the cloud vigor and lightning by producing fewer but larger cloud drops, which accelerate warm rain at the expense of mixed-phase precipitation. Adding coarse sea spray can reduce the lightning by 90% regardless of fine aerosol loading. These findings reconcile long outstanding questions about the differences between continental and marine thunderstorms, and help to understand lightning and underlying aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction mechanisms and their climatic effects.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2113494
PAR ID:
10514633
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
Nature Communications
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Volume:
13
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2041-1723
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; (, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)
    null (Ed.)
    Abstract. Changes in land cover and aerosols resulting from urbanization may impactconvective clouds and precipitation. Here we investigate how Houstonurbanization can modify sea-breeze-induced convective cloud and precipitation through the urban land effect and anthropogenic aerosol effect. The simulations are carried out with the Chemistry version of the WeatherResearch and Forecasting model (WRF-Chem), which is coupled with spectral-bin microphysics (SBM) and the multilayer urban model with abuilding energy model (BEM-BEP). We find that Houston urbanization (thejoint effect of both urban land and anthropogenic aerosols) notably enhancesstorm intensity (by ∼ 75 % in maximum vertical velocity) andprecipitation intensity (up to 45 %), with the anthropogenic aerosoleffect more significant than the urban land effect. Urban land effectmodifies convective evolution: speed up the transition from the warm cloudto mixed-phase cloud, thus initiating surface rain earlier but slowing down the convective cell dissipation, all of which result from urban heating-induced stronger sea-breeze circulation. The anthropogenic aerosol effectbecomes evident after the cloud evolves into the mixed-phase cloud,accelerating the development of storm from the mixed-phase cloud to deepcloud by ∼ 40 min. Through aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI), aerosols boost convective intensity and precipitation mainly by activatingnumerous ultrafine particles at the mixed-phase and deep cloud stages. Thiswork shows the importance of considering both the urban land and anthropogenic aerosol effects for understanding urbanization effects on convective cloudsand precipitation. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)
    Abstract. Intense tropical cyclones (TCs) can cause catastrophic damage to coastal regions after landfall. Recent studies have linked the devastation associated with TCs to climate change, which induces favorable conditions, such as increasing sea-surface temperature, to supercharge storms. Meanwhile, environmental factors, such as atmospheric aerosols, also impact the development and intensity of TCs, but their effects remain poorly understood, particularly coupled with ocean dynamics. Here, we quantitatively assess the aerosol microphysical effects and aerosol-modified ocean feedbacks during Hurricane Katrina using a cloud-resolving atmosphere–ocean coupled model: Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) in conjunction with the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS). Our model simulations reveal that an enhanced storm destructive power, as reflected by larger integrated kinetic energy, heavier precipitation, and higher sea-level rise, is linked to the combined effects of aerosols and ocean feedbacks. These effects further result in an expansion of the storm circulation with a reduced intensity because of a decreasing moist static energy supply and enhancing vorticity Rossby wave outward propagation. Both accumulated precipitation and storm surge are enhanced during the mature stage of the TC with elevated aerosol concentrations, implying exacerbated flood damage over the polluted coastal region. The ocean feedback following the aerosol microphysical effects tends to mitigate the vertical mixing cooling in the ocean mixing layer and offsets the aerosol-induced storm weakening by enhancing cloud and precipitation near the eyewall region. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for the effects of aerosol microphysics and ocean-coupling feedbacks to improve the forecast of TC destructiveness, particularly near the heavily polluted coastal regions along the Gulf of Mexico. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society)
    Abstract A multi-agency succession of field campaigns was conducted in southeastern Texas during July 2021 through October 2022 to study the complex interactions of aerosols, clouds and air pollution in the coastal urban environment. As part of the Tracking Aerosol Convection interactions Experiment (TRACER), the TRACER- Air Quality (TAQ) campaign the Experiment of Sea Breeze Convection, Aerosols, Precipitation and Environment (ESCAPE) and the Convective Cloud Urban Boundary Layer Experiment (CUBE), a combination of ground-based supersites and mobile laboratories, shipborne measurements and aircraft-based instrumentation were deployed. These diverse platforms collected high-resolution data to characterize the aerosol microphysics and chemistry, cloud and precipitation micro- and macro-physical properties, environmental thermodynamics and air quality-relevant constituents that are being used in follow-on analysis and modeling activities. We present the overall deployment setups, a summary of the campaign conditions and a sampling of early research results related to: (a) aerosol precursors in the urban environment, (b) influences of local meteorology on air pollution, (c) detailed observations of the sea breeze circulation, (d) retrieved supersaturation in convective updrafts, (e) characterizing the convective updraft lifecycle, (f) variability in lightning characteristics of convective storms and (g) urban influences on surface energy fluxes. The work concludes with discussion of future research activities highlighted by the TRACER model-intercomparison project to explore the representation of aerosol-convective interactions in high-resolution simulations. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres)
    Abstract Exceptionally high‐energy lightning strokes >106 J (X1000 stronger than average) in the very low‐frequency band between 5 and 18 kHz, also known as superbolts (SB), occur mostly during winter over the North‐East Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and over the Altiplano in South America. Here we compare the World‐Wide Lightning Location Network database with meteorological and aerosol data to examine the causes of lightning stroke high energies. Our results show that the energy per stroke increases sharply as the distance between the cloud'scharging zone(where the cloud electrification occurs) and the surface decreases. Since thecharging zoneoccurs above the 0°C isotherm, this distance is shorter when the 0°C isotherm is closer to the surface. This occurs either due to cold air mass over the ocean during winter or high surface altitude in the Altiplano during summer thunderstorms. Stroke energy decreases with the warm phase of the cloud, as proxied by the cloud base temperature, and increases with a more developed cloud, as proxied by the cloud top temperature, but to a much lesser extent than the distance between the surface and 0°C isotherm. Aerosols play no significant role. It is hypothesized that a shorter distance between thecharging zoneand the ground represents less electrical resistance that allows stronger discharge currents. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, Elem Sci Anth)
    Aerosols and clouds are key components of the marine atmosphere, impacting the Earth’s radiative budget with a net cooling effect over the industrial era that counterbalances greenhouse gas warming, yet with an uncertain amplitude. Here we report recent advances in our understanding of how open ocean aerosol sources are modulated by ocean biogeochemistry and how they, in turn, shape cloud coverage and properties. We organize these findings in successive steps from ocean biogeochemical processes to particle formation by nucleation and sea spray emissions, further particle growth by condensation of gases, the potential to act as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nucleating particles, and finally, their effects on cloud formation, optical properties, and life cycle. We discuss how these processes may be impacted in a warming climate and the potential for ocean biogeochemistry—climate feedbacks through aerosols and clouds. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Text Encoded Conversion
  • XML
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email