Supercooled liquid water clouds observed over Dome C, Antarctica: temperature sensitivity and cloud radiative forcing

Year: 2024

Authors: Ricaud P., Del Guasta M., Lupi A., Roehrig R., Bazile E., Durand P., Attiy JL., Nicosia A., Grigioni P.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Toulouse, CNRM, Meteo France, CNRS, Toulouse, France; INO CNR, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; ISAC CNR, Bologna, Italy; Univ Toulouse, Lab Aerol, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France; ENEA, Rome, Italy.

Abstract: Clouds affect the Earth climate with an impact that depends on the cloud nature (solid and/or liquid water). Although the Antarctic climate is changing rapidly, cloud observations are sparse over Antarctica due to few ground stations and satellite observations. The Concordia station is located on the eastern Antarctic Plateau (75 circle S, 123 circle E; 3233 m above mean sea level), one of the driest and coldest places on Earth. We used observations of clouds, temperature, liquid water, and surface irradiance performed at Concordia during four austral summers (December 2018-2021) to analyse the link between liquid water and temperature and its impact on surface irradiance in the presence of supercooled liquid water (liquid water for temperature less than 0 circle C) clouds (SLWCs). Our analysis shows that, within SLWCs, temperature logarithmically increases from – 36.0 to – 16.0 circle C when liquid water path increases from 1.0 to 14.0 g m – 2 . The SLWC radiative forcing is positive and logarithmically increases from 0.0 to 70.0 W m – 2 when liquid water path increases from 1.2 to 3.5 g m – 2 . This is mainly due to the downward longwave component that logarithmically increases from 0 to 90 W m – 2 when liquid water path increases from 1.0 to 3.5 g m – 2 . The attenuation of shortwave incoming irradiance (that can reach more than 100 W m – 2 ) is almost compensated for by the upward shortwave irradiance because of high values of surface albedo. Based on our study, we can extrapolate that, over the Antarctic continent, SLWCs have a maximum radiative forcing that is rather weak over the eastern Antarctic Plateau (0 to 7 W m – 2 ) but 3 to 5 times larger over West Antarctica (0 to 40 W m – 2 ), maximizing in summer and over the Antarctic Peninsula.

Journal/Review: ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS

Volume: 24 (1)      Pages from: 613  to: 630

More Information: The HAMSTRAD programme 910 was supported by IPEV, the Institut National des Sciences de l’Univers(INSU)/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS),Meteo-France, and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES).
KeyWords: Mixed-phase; Dumont Durville; Surface-albedo; Ice; Microphysics; Peninsula; Weather; Aerosol; Impact; Vapor
DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-613-2024

Citations: 4
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