New perspectives on modeling INPs in the remote marine atmosphere

Abstract:

Ice-nucleating particles (INPs) play an important role in influencing cloud phase, with implications for both weather and climate. A substantial body of evidence now supports the hypothesis that sea spray aerosol, in particular its biogenic components, are an important contributor to INP concentrations in the remote marine boundary layer. Long-range transport of dust and other continental aerosols is also likely to be an episodic contributor to near-surface INP concentrations in these regions, and an increasingly important contributor at higher altitudes.

This presentation will focus on recent modeling efforts aimed at advancing numerical representations of marine INPs for global climate models. In a model study, we explore the hypothesis that episodic increases in INP number may be linked to jet drop production of sea spray aerosol and highlight current gaps in our understanding of warm-temperature sea spray INP. Additionally, we investigate regional- and seasonal-scale associations between air mass origin, meteorological conditions, and variability in INP sources and concentrations. Finally, we compare model results with recent field observations, which provide a source of “ground truth”, and quantify model-observation discrepancies.