Chemical and microphysical properties of marine stratiform cloud in the North Atlantic

The chemical and microphysical properties of marine stratiform cloud were measured at a ridgetop elevation of 992 m above mean sea level (AMSL) on Tenerife in the Canary Islands in the eastern North Atlantic during the summers of 1995 and 1996. The results show an inverse relationship between hourly-averaged cloud droplet diameter and droplet number concentration, which ranged from 116 to 1355 cm−3. Strong relationships were observed between droplet number and equivalent clear air concentrations of non-sea-salt sulfate, nitrate, and elemental carbon in the droplets. Droplet sizes inferred from radiances measured by satellite for clouds offshore and upwind agreed with droplet sizes derived for clouds over the mountain sampling site, and also with those measured in cloud 4–5 hours later. Estimated cloud short-wave radiative forcing was enhanced by 8% in radiative model studies of polluted versus clean clouds with droplet concentrations of 786 and 127 cm−3 and droplet effective radii of 6 and 10 μm, respectively.

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