Susceptibility of East Asian Marine Warm Clouds to Aerosols in Winter and Spring from Co-Located A-Train Satellite Observations

We constructed the A-Train co-located aerosol and marine warm cloud data from 2006 to 2010 winter and spring over East Asia and investigated the sensitivities of single-layer warm cloud properties to aerosols under different precipitation statuses and environmental regimes. The near-surface stability (NSS), modulated by cold air on top of a warm surface, and the estimated inversion strength (EIS) controlled by the subsidence are critical environmental parameters affecting the marine warm cloud structure over East Asia and, thus, the aerosols-cloud interactions. Based on our analysis, precipitating clouds revealed higher cloud susceptibility to aerosols as compared to non-precipitating clouds. The cloud liquid water path (LWP) increased with aerosols for precipitating clouds, yet decreased with aerosols for non-precipitating clouds, consistent with previous studies. For precipitating clouds, the cloud LWP and albedo increased more under higher NSS as unstable air promotes more moisture flux from the ocean. Under stronger EIS, the cloud albedo response to aerosols was lower than that under weaker EIS, indicating that stronger subsidence weakens the cloud susceptibility due to more entrainment drying. Our study suggests that the critical environmental factors governing the aerosol-cloud interactions may vary for different oceanic regions, depending on the thermodynamic conditions.

Automated summary

The study investigated the sensitivity of warm clouds to aerosols in East Asia from 2006 to 2010 and found that precipitating clouds are more susceptible to aerosols compared to non-precipitating clouds. Cloud liquid water path increased with aerosols for precipitating clouds but decreased for non-precipitating clouds, showing differences in cloud responses to aerosols based on environmental factors.