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Characteristics of supersaturation in mid-latitude cirrus clouds and their adjacent cloud-free air

Dekoutsidis, Georgios and Groß, Silke Martha and Wirth, Martin and Krämer, Martina and Rolf, Christian (2022) Characteristics of supersaturation in mid-latitude cirrus clouds and their adjacent cloud-free air. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions. Copernicus Publications. doi: 10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023. ISSN 1680-7367.

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Official URL: https://acp.copernicus.org/preprints/acp-2022-717/

Abstract

Water vapor measurements of mid-latitude cirrus clouds, obtained by the WALES (WAter vapor Lidar Experiment in Space) lidar system during the Mid-Latitude Cirrus (ML-Cirrus) airborne campaign, that took place in spring of 2014 over central Europe and the NE Atlantic Ocean, are combined with model temperatures from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and analysed. Our main focus is to derive the distribution and temporal evolution of humidity with respect to ice within cirrus clouds and in their adjacent cloud-free air. We find that 34.1 % of in-cloud data points are supersaturated with respect to ice. Supersaturation is also detected in 6.8 % of the cloud-free data points. When the probability density of the Relative Humidity over ice (RHi) is calculated with respect to temperature for the in-cloud data points from the ML-Cirrus data-set there are two peaks. One around 225 K and close to saturation, RHi = 100 % and a second one at colder temperatures around 215 K in subsaturation, RHi = 90 %. These two regions seem to represent two cirrus cloud categories: in-situ formed and liquid-origin. Regarding their vertical structure, most clouds have higher supersaturations close to the cloud-top and become subsaturated near the cloud bottom. Finally, we find that the vertical structure of RHi within the clouds is also indicative of their life stage. RHi skewness tends to go from positive to negative values as the cloud ages. RHi modes are close to saturation in young clouds, supersaturated in mature clouds and subsaturated in dissipating clouds.

Item URL in elib:https://elib.dlr.de/189334/
Document Type:Article
Title:Characteristics of supersaturation in mid-latitude cirrus clouds and their adjacent cloud-free air
Authors:
AuthorsInstitution or Email of AuthorsAuthor's ORCID iDORCID Put Code
Dekoutsidis, GeorgiosDLR, IPAhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1083-0609UNSPECIFIED
Groß, Silke MarthaDLR, IPAhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7467-9269UNSPECIFIED
Wirth, MartinDLR, IPAhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5951-2252UNSPECIFIED
Krämer, MartinaForschungszentrum Jülich, Jülichhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2888-1722UNSPECIFIED
Rolf, ChristianForschungszentrum Jülich, Jülichhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5329-0054UNSPECIFIED
Date:2022
Journal or Publication Title:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
Refereed publication:No
Open Access:Yes
Gold Open Access:Yes
In SCOPUS:No
In ISI Web of Science:No
DOI:10.5194/acp-23-3103-2023
Publisher:Copernicus Publications
ISSN:1680-7367
Status:Published
Keywords:Relative humidity, lidar, cirrus clouds, vertical structure
HGF - Research field:Aeronautics, Space and Transport
HGF - Program:Space
HGF - Program Themes:Earth Observation
DLR - Research area:Raumfahrt
DLR - Program:R EO - Earth Observation
DLR - Research theme (Project):R - Atmospheric and climate research
Location: Oberpfaffenhofen
Institutes and Institutions:Institute of Atmospheric Physics > Lidar
Deposited By: Dekoutsidis, Georgios
Deposited On:26 Oct 2022 08:36
Last Modified:03 Jun 2024 12:18

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