The observed influence of local anthropogenic pollution on northern Alaskan cloud properties

Maahn, Maximilian; de Boer, Gijs; Creamean, Jessie M.; Feingold, Graham; McFarquhar, Greg M.; Wu, Wei; Mei, Fan

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14709-2017

Articles | Volume 17, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14709-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14709-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 23

Research article

|

11 Dec 2017

Research article |

| 11 Dec 2017

The observed influence of local anthropogenic pollution on northern Alaskan cloud properties

Maximilian Maahn, Gijs de Boer, Jessie M. Creamean, Graham Feingold, Greg M. McFarquhar, Wei Wu, and Fan Mei

Data sets

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility standard Meteorological Instrumentation at Surface (NSAMET and OLIMET). Jun. 2015-Sep. 2015, North Slope of Alaska Central Facility (C1) and Oliktok Mobile Facility (M1) D. Holdridge and J. Kyrouac https://doi.org/10.5439/1025220

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility Campaign datasets for ARM Airborne Carbon Measurements (ARM- ACME-V). Jun. 2015-Sep. 2015, ARM Aerial Facility. S. Biraud, F. Mei, C. Flynn, J. Hubbe, C. Long, A. Matthews, M. Pekour, A. Sedlacek, S. Springston, J. Tomlinson, and D. Chand https://doi.org/10.5439/1346549

Short summary

Liquid-containing clouds are a key component of the Arctic climate system and their radiative properties depend strongly on cloud drop sizes. Here, we investigate how cloud drop sizes are modified in the presence of local emissions from industrial facilities at the North Slope of Alaska using aircraft in situ observations. We show that near local anthropogenic sources, the concentrations of black carbon and condensation nuclei are enhanced and cloud drop sizes are reduced.