The Effect of Aerosol Loading on Shallow Convective Precipitation Inferred from Co-occurring Cloud and Precipitation within the Warm-topped Maritime Clouds Observed during CAMP2Ex

The Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex) provided a comprehensive observational record regarding aerosols, cloud microphysics and dynamics, as well as radiative and hydrological properties in the vicinity of Philippines during and after the Southwest Monsoon. CAMP2Ex is the first field campaign targeting at shallow cumulus and congestus clouds with remote sensors and instruments highly consistent with the Aerosol, Clouds, Convection, and Precipitation (ACCP) mission that is now in active planning. Relevant instrumentation flown during CAMP2Ex provided collocated observations of multi-frequency Airborne Third Generation Precipitation Radar (APR-3), Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR), and High Spectral Resolution Lidar 2. In order to investigate how aerosol loading modulates the size and number of rain drops, optimal estimation (OE) algorithms are applied to infer cloud and precipitation properties from simultaneously measured W- and Ka-band radar reflectivity, path-integrated attenuations, brightness temperatures at 37 and 85 GHz, and lidar extinction. Doppler velocities can be readily implemented to provide information regarding cloud dynamics. The Markov Chain Monte Caro (MCMC) methodology will also be applied to selected cases primarily for validation purposes. In this paper we will introduce the inversion methodologies and describe the resulting aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions inferred from the CAMP2Ex data. In addition we will provide insight on the utility of the ACCP observing system for shallow convection studies.