Glaciation of liquid clouds, snowfall and reduced cloud cover at industrial aerosol hot spots

Toll, V., Rahu, J., Keernik, H., Trofimov, H., Voormansik, T., Manshausen, P., Hung, E., Michelson, D., Christensen, M. W., Post, P., Junninen, H., Murray, B. J., Lohmann, U., Watson-Parris, D., Stier, P., Donaldson, N., Storelvmo, T., Kulmala, M. and Bellouin, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2109-9559 (2024) Glaciation of liquid clouds, snowfall and reduced cloud cover at industrial aerosol hot spots. Science, 386 (6723). pp. 756-762. ISSN 1095-9203 doi: 10.1126/science.adl0303

Abstract/Summary

The ability of anthropogenic aerosols to freeze supercooled cloud droplets remains debated. Here, we present observational evidence for the glaciation of supercooled liquid-water clouds at industrial aerosol hot spots at temperatures between -10 and -24 °C. Compared to the nearby liquid-water clouds, the shortwave reflectance is reduced by 14% and longwave radiance increased by 4% in the glaciation-affected regions. There is an 8% reduction in cloud cover and an 18% reduction in cloud optical thickness. Additionally, daily glaciation-induced snowfall accumulations reach 15 mm. Glaciation events downwind industrial aerosol hot spots indicate that anthropogenic aerosols likely serve as ice-nucleating particles. However, rare glaciation events downwind of nuclear power plants indicate that factors other than aerosol emissions may also play a role in the observed glaciation events.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/118984
Identification Number/DOI	10.1126/science.adl0303
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science
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