Determination of the sources and impacts of aerosols on clouds and orographic precipitation during CalWater
Abstract
Climate projections for the remainder of this century for the U.S. Southwest, including parts of California, suggest a drying trend (reductions ~ 10 -15 %). Thus, understanding factors which could potentially influence the amount and type of precipitation is critical to future water resources in California. Previous studies suggest aerosols transported from the Central Valley into the mountains may be reducing the amount of orographic precipitation in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the key region for water storage in the snowpack. CalWater, which commenced in the Winter of 2009, is an ongoing multi-year, multi-agency field campaign to investigate the primary sources of aerosols influencing clouds and precipitation in this region. Single particle measurements, used in both ground as well as PNNL G1 aircraft measurements, in the recent campaign provide insight into the sources of aerosols impacting the clouds and precipitation. Biomass burning, Central Valley pollution, long range transported Asian dust and pollution, locally generated newly formed particles, and marine aerosols all show strong impacts on the cloud microphysical properties. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the objective and key findings from CalWater measurements of aerosols, precipitation, clouds, and meteorology conducted from 2009-2011 in this region.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFM.A23E..01P
- Keywords:
-
- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Aerosols and particles;
- 0320 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Cloud physics and chemistry;
- 0365 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE / Troposphere: composition and chemistry;
- 1854 HYDROLOGY / Precipitation