Abstract
This study examines the characteristics of the microphysics and macrophysics of water clouds from East Asia to the North Pacific, using data from active CloudSat radar measurements and passive MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrievals. Our goals are to clarify differences in microphysics and macrophysics between land and oceanic clouds, seasonal differences unique to the midlatitudes, characteristics of the drizzling process, and cloud vertical structure. In pristine oceanic areas, fractional occurrences of cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud droplet effective radius (CDR) increase systematically with an increase in drizzle intensity, but these characteristics of the COT and CDR transition are less evident in polluted land areas. In addition, regional and seasonal differences are identified in terms of drizzle intensity as a function of the liquid water path (LWP) and cloud droplet number concentration (Nc). The correlations between drizzle intensity and LWP, and between drizzle intensity and Nc, are both more robust over oceanic areas than over land areas. We also demonstrate regional and seasonal characteristics of the cloud vertical structure. Our results suggest that aerosol-cloud interaction mainly occurs around the cloud base in polluted land areas during the winter season. In addition, a difference between polluted and pristine areas in the efficiency of cloud droplet growth is confirmed. These results suggest that water clouds over the midlatitudes exhibit a different drizzle system to those over the tropics.
Figures
![Fig. 2. Probability distribution functions (PDFs) of each cloud physical variable, (a) maximum radar reflectivity Zmax [dBZe], (b) cloud droplet number concentration Nc [cm−3], (c) cloud optical thickness τc, and (d) cloud effective particle radius re [µm] for Industrial area and North Pacific 3 in JJA (solid line) and DJF (dotted line).](https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/com.mendeley.prod.article-extracted-content/images/40a17732-3b9d-3981-ad0f-77767430fbc4/thumbnail-e05ec075-b0b2-4194-bb04-37c08468e44e-0.png)
![Fig. 3. Fractional occurrences of cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud droplet effective radius (CDR) for each rain category: [A] no precipitation (Zmax <−15), [B] drizzle (−15≤ Zmax < 0), and [C] rain (0≤ Zmax). (a–c) are for the Industrial area in JJA, (d–f) for the Industrial area in DJF, (g–i) for the North Pacific 3 area in JJA, and (j–l) for the North Pacific 3 area in DJF. Averaged LWP and LTSS are shown in each diagram.](https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/com.mendeley.prod.article-extracted-content/images/40a17732-3b9d-3981-ad0f-77767430fbc4/thumbnail-e1bf4ff8-4e4d-4d45-976e-1eeee70965d0-2.png)
![Fig. 8. Contoured frequency by optical-depth diagrams (CFODDs) as a function of CDR, [A] 5–12 µm, [B] 12–18 µm, [C] 18–35 µm. (a–c) are for the Industrial area in JJA, (d–f) for the Industrial area in DJF, (g–i) for the North Pacific 3 area in JJA, and (j–l) for the North Pacific 3 area in DJF. Two white dotted lines are drawn as threshold radar reflectivity values,−15 dBZe and 0dBZe, which are taken as the boundaries between cloud particles and drizzle, and between drizzle and rain, respectively. Averaged LWP and LTSS are also shown in each CFODD.](https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/com.mendeley.prod.article-extracted-content/images/40a17732-3b9d-3981-ad0f-77767430fbc4/thumbnail-310ddbbd-16fb-4f2a-b308-09ee14c3af6c-7.png)
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CITATION STYLE
Michibata, T., Kawamoto, K., & Takemura, T. (2014). The effects of aerosols on water cloud microphysics and macrophysics based on satellite-retrieved data over East Asia and the North Pacific. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14(21), 11935–11948. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-11935-2014
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