Aerosol invigoration of atmospheric convection through increases in humidity
Aerosol invigoration of atmospheric convection through increases in humidity
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DOI：
10.1126/science.abc5181
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发表时间：
2021-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Cronin, Timothy W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Abbott, Tristan H.;Cronin, Timothy W.
云-气溶胶相互作用仍然是理解气候和恶劣天气的主要障碍。观测表明，气溶胶增强热带雷暴活动;过去的研究，出于了解气溶胶对云的影响的重要性，提出了几种机制，可以解释观察到的联系。我们发现，高分辨率的大气模拟可以重现气溶胶和对流之间的联系。然而，我们也表明，以前提出的机制是无法解释的振兴。研究潜在的过程表明，在我们的模拟中，高气溶胶浓度通过产生将更多冷凝水混合到周围空气中的云来增加环境湿度。反过来，更高的湿度有利于大规模的上升和更强的对流。我们的研究结果提供了一个物理原因，预计在高气溶胶地区的热带雷暴。
Cloud-aerosol interactions remain a major obstacle to understanding climate and severe weather. Observations suggest that aerosols enhance tropical thunderstorm activity; past research, motivated by the importance of understanding aerosol impacts on clouds, has proposed several mechanisms that could explain that observed link. We find that high-resolution atmospheric simulations can reproduce the observed link between aerosols and convection. However, we also show that previously proposed mechanisms are unable to explain the invigoration. Examining underlying processes reveals that, in our simulations, high aerosol concentrations increase environmental humidity by producing clouds that mix more condensed water into the surrounding air. In turn, higher humidity favors large-scale ascent and stronger convection. Our results provide a physical reason to expect invigorated thunderstorms in high-aerosol regions of the tropics.