Aerosol-droplet relations in Arctic clouds: insight from the Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC)

The relationships between atmospheric aerosol particles and Arctic cloud microphysics are investigated through a droplet number closure study using aircraft observational data from the US Department of Energy ISDAC study conducted in Alaska in April, 2008. In-situ measurements of aerosol physicochemical properties and atmospheric state are used to simulate droplet activation and growth in an adiabatic cloud parcel model. Size distributed aerosol particle concentration and composition measurements were obtained below-cloud using a Passive Cavity Aerosol Spectrometer Probe (PCASP; size range ~ 0.12 - 3 µm) and SPLAT II, a single particle mass spectrometer. The updraft velocity defines the development of supersaturation, and so dictates the onset of droplet nucleation. For model simulations in the present work, the updraft velocity was determined from a combination of gust probe observations and updraft trajectories computed using a large eddy simulation cloud-resolving model (LES-CRM). The simulated droplet concentrations are compared against in situ measurements from a DMT Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP; size range 2 - 50 µm) and/or Forward-Scattering Spectrometer Probe (FSSP-100X; size range 3 - 45 µm). The sensitivity of the comparison of simulated and observed cloud droplet number concentrations is examined for reasonable variations of the aerosol physicochemical properties (e.g. mass accommodation coefficient) and updraft velocity. Droplet closure analysis is presented for selected cases during ISDAC, comprising both clean and polluted air masses with respect to aerosol particle number concentration and composition. The applicability of the results to model parameterizations is considered, with emphasis on the description of the updraft velocity. The findings increase our knowledge of factors affecting the lifetime and radiative properties of Arctic clouds, which are critical to our understanding of the role of climate change in the Arctic.