High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe
Abstract Cirrus clouds have a large influence on the Earth's climate and anthropogenic activities such as aviation can alter their properties. Besides the formation of contrails, indirect effects on naturally occurring cirrus like increased heterogeneous freezing due to exhaust soot particles a...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2018-12-01
|
| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079345 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849728001613234176 |
|---|---|
| author | Benedikt Urbanek Silke Groß Martin Wirth Christian Rolf Martina Krämer Christiane Voigt |
| author_facet | Benedikt Urbanek Silke Groß Martin Wirth Christian Rolf Martina Krämer Christiane Voigt |
| author_sort | Benedikt Urbanek |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Cirrus clouds have a large influence on the Earth's climate and anthropogenic activities such as aviation can alter their properties. Besides the formation of contrails, indirect effects on naturally occurring cirrus like increased heterogeneous freezing due to exhaust soot particles are discussed in the literature. However, hardly any observational study exists. In this work we present cirrus optical properties measured by an airborne lidar over Europe during the Midlatitude Cirrus experiment (ML‐CIRRUS). One half of the cloud cases showed elevated depolarization ratios with a mode difference of 10 percentage points indicating differences in the clouds microphysical properties. Their origin can be traced back to highly frequented air traffic regions, and they show lower in‐cloud ice supersaturations. Our analysis reveals no influence of embedded contrails and temperature. These results could be explained by an indirect aerosol effect where heterogeneous freezing is caused by aviation exhaust particles. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cd0abb1ea7c843a0b60daba037194e2d |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-12-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-cd0abb1ea7c843a0b60daba037194e2d2025-08-20T03:09:42ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072018-12-01452313,16613,17210.1029/2018GL079345High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over EuropeBenedikt Urbanek0Silke Groß1Martin Wirth2Christian Rolf3Martina Krämer4Christiane Voigt5Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt e.V Oberpfaffenhofen GermanyInstitut für Physik der Atmosphäre Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt e.V Oberpfaffenhofen GermanyInstitut für Physik der Atmosphäre Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt e.V Oberpfaffenhofen GermanyInstitut für Energie‐ und Klimaforschung (IEK‐7) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich GermanyInstitut für Energie‐ und Klimaforschung (IEK‐7) Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich GermanyInstitut für Physik der Atmosphäre Deutsches Zentrum für Luft‐ und Raumfahrt e.V Oberpfaffenhofen GermanyAbstract Cirrus clouds have a large influence on the Earth's climate and anthropogenic activities such as aviation can alter their properties. Besides the formation of contrails, indirect effects on naturally occurring cirrus like increased heterogeneous freezing due to exhaust soot particles are discussed in the literature. However, hardly any observational study exists. In this work we present cirrus optical properties measured by an airborne lidar over Europe during the Midlatitude Cirrus experiment (ML‐CIRRUS). One half of the cloud cases showed elevated depolarization ratios with a mode difference of 10 percentage points indicating differences in the clouds microphysical properties. Their origin can be traced back to highly frequented air traffic regions, and they show lower in‐cloud ice supersaturations. Our analysis reveals no influence of embedded contrails and temperature. These results could be explained by an indirect aerosol effect where heterogeneous freezing is caused by aviation exhaust particles.https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079345aerosol indirect effect on ice clouds |
| spellingShingle | Benedikt Urbanek Silke Groß Martin Wirth Christian Rolf Martina Krämer Christiane Voigt High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe Geophysical Research Letters aerosol indirect effect on ice clouds |
| title | High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe |
| title_full | High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe |
| title_fullStr | High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe |
| title_short | High Depolarization Ratios of Naturally Occurring Cirrus Clouds Near Air Traffic Regions Over Europe |
| title_sort | high depolarization ratios of naturally occurring cirrus clouds near air traffic regions over europe |
| topic | aerosol indirect effect on ice clouds |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079345 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT benedikturbanek highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope AT silkegroß highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope AT martinwirth highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope AT christianrolf highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope AT martinakramer highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope AT christianevoigt highdepolarizationratiosofnaturallyoccurringcirruscloudsnearairtrafficregionsovereurope |