| Volumes and Issues Contents of Issue 9 |
www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/3223/2009/
doi:10.5194/acp-9-3223-2009
© Author(s) 2009. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Evidence of mineral dust altering cloud microphysics and precipitation
1Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, USA
2Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, USA
3NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Howard University, USA
Abstract. Multi-platform and multi-sensor observations are employed to investigate the impact of mineral dust on cloud microphysical and precipitation processes in mesoscale convective systems. For a given convective strength, small hydrometeors were more prevalent in the stratiform rain regions with dust than in those regions that were dust free. Evidence of abundant cloud ice particles in the dust sector, particularly at altitudes where heterogeneous nucleation of mineral dust prevails, further supports the observed changes of precipitation. The consequences of the microphysical effects of the dust aerosols were to shift the precipitation size spectrum from heavy precipitation to light precipitation and ultimately suppressing precipitation.
Final Revised Paper (PDF, 1065 KB) Supplement (36133 KB) Discussion Paper (ACPD)
Citation: Min, Q.-L., Li, R., Lin, B., Joseph, E., Wang, S., Hu, Y., Morris, V., and Chang, F.: Evidence of mineral dust altering cloud microphysics and precipitation, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 3223-3231, doi:10.5194/acp-9-3223-2009, 2009. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
