Increased Freezing Temperature of Clouds Over China Due To Anthropogenic Pollution
Abstract The temperature for cloud glaciation importantly determines the initialization of precipitation and lifetime of clouds. The role of anthropogenic pollutants as ice nucleating particles (INPs) to determine the cloud glaciation remains uncertain. In this study, based on satellite radar and lidar observations, the clouds either in pure liquid or mixed‐phase with liquid top were statistically analyzed over China during 2006–2019, to obtain the transition freezing temperature (T*) of cloud top where mixed‐phase becomes more frequent than pure water, with further validation by the aircraft in situ measurements. Anthropogenic pollution was observed to raise T* up to −9°C, significantly increasing it by approximately 5°C per unit of aerosol optical depth. The results provide regional‐scale evidence that anthropogenic pollutants act as efficient INPs, increasing the freezing temperature of mixed‐phase clouds.
Authors
- Mengyu Huang
- Baiwan Pan
- Delong Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4534-7820)
- Kang Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4142-585X)
- Sun Bing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9772-2995)
- Dantong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3768-1770)
- Ping Tian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8795-5605)
- Yuanmou Du
- Chenjie Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9831-4558)
- Weijun Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4887-4260)
- Ying Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0319-4950)
- Siyuan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6366-7927)
- Honghui Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4623-3913)
- Shuangzhi You
- Dawei Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2817-8180)
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université Paris-Est Créteil (FR)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Université Paris Cité (FR)
- Chengdu University of Information Technology (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Paris-Est Sup (FR)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (FR)
- Zhejiang Meteorological Bureau (CN)
- Jilin Weather Modification Office (CN)
- Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (FR)
- Zhejiang University (CN)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Published
- 2024-11-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1029/2024gl109086
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.57
Funders
- Royal Society
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province