Aerosol-induced changes in the vertical structure of precipitation: a perspective of TRMM precipitation radar

Jianping Guo, Huan Liu, Zhanqing Li*, Daniel Rosenfeld, Mengjiao Jiang, Weixin Xu, Jonathan H. Jiang, Jing He, Dandan Chen, Min Min, Panmao Zhai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study investigates aerosol effects on precipitation over the Pearl River Delta region of China using six years of ground-based PM10 and satellite-based (TRMM) precipitation data. In general, rain rate tends to be lower under polluted conditions than under clean conditions. Radar reflectivity of the top 1% increases as the atmosphere becomes slightly polluted (PM10<38 µg/m3), except for shallow convection. The aerosol-precipitation data pairs are further limited to local- or meso-scale precipitation systems. Results show that significant changes in precipitation vertical structure are possibly induced by aerosol, and this potential aerosol effect is regime dependent. The 30 dBZ radar echo top height is elevated by 18.7% (2.7%) for convective (stratiform) precipitation under severe polluted conditions (PM10>83 µg/m3) compared to clean conditions (PM10<31 µg/m3), indicative of a possible aerosol invigoration effect. In contrast, the 30 dBZ radar echo top height of shallow convection are almost identical between pristine and polluted conditions. Impacts of meteorological factors are further studied on both echo top and reflectivity center of gravity, including vertical velocity, vertical wind shear, convection available potential energy, and vertically integrated moisture flux divergence. The possible invigoration effect on convective precipitation seems dependent on wind shear, in good agreement with previous simulations. Overall, the observed dependence of precipitation vertical structure on ground-based PM10 supports the aerosol invigoration hypothesis and adds a new insight into the nature of the complex interactions between aerosol and various precipitation regimes.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAtmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Volume18
Issue number18
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) 2018.

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