Abstract
This article gives a short summary of the physical processes relevant to cirrus and their representation in cloud-resolving models and in global general circulation models. Cloud-resolving models are used to study the evolution of single clouds or cloud systems. With global models the role of clouds in the atmosphere and their interaction with large scale dynamics can be studied. Applications of such models to study cirrus processes and the global contrail cirrus climate impact are discussed. Future research towards a prognostic cloud scheme to include nonequilibrium cirrus cloud physics is laid out.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bony, S., Emanuel, K.A.: A parameterization of the cloudiness associated with cumulus convection; evaluation using TOGA COARE data. J. Atmos. Sci. 58, 3158–3183 (2001)
Burkhardt, U., Kärcher, B., Ponater, M., Gierens, K., Gettelman, A.: Contrail cirrus supporting areas in model and observations. Geophys. Res. Lett. 35, L16808 (2008). doi:10.1029/2008GL034056
Burkhardt, U., Kärcher, B.: Process-based parameterization of contrail cirrus in a global climate model. J. Geophys. Res. 114 (2009). doi:10.1029/2008JD011491
Burkhardt, U., Kärcher, B.: Global radiative forcing from contrail cirrus. Nature Clim. Change 1, 54–58 (2011)
Cess, R.D., et al.: Intercomparison and interpretation of climate feedback processes in 19 atmospheric general circulation models. J. Geophys. Res. 95, 16601–16615 (1990)
DeMott, P.J., Cziczo, D.J., Prenni, A.J., Murphy, D.M., Kreidenweis, S.M., Thomson, D.S., Borys, R., Rogers, D.C.: Measurements of the concentration and composition of nuclei for cirrus formation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100, 14655–14660 (2003)
Gettelman, A., Kinnison, D.E.: The global impact of supersaturation in a coupled chemistry climate model. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 7, 1629–1643 (2007)
Gierens, K., Schumann, U., Helten, M., Smit, H., Marenco, A.: A distribution law for relative humidity in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere derived from three years of MOZAIC measurements. Ann. Geophys. 17, 1218–1226 (1999)
Hendricks, J., Kärcher, B., Lohmann,U.: Effects of ice nuclei on cirrus clouds in a global climate model. J. Geophys. Res. 116(D18206), 1–24 (2011). doi:10.1029/2010JD015302
Herzegh, P.H., Hobbs, P.V.: The mesoscale and microscale structure and organization of clouds and precipitation in midlatitude cyclones. II: Warm frontal clouds. J. Atmos. Sci. 37, 597–611 (1980)
Holton, J.R., Gettelman, A.: Horizontal transport and the dehydration of the stratosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 2799–2802 (2001)
IPCC: Climate Change 2007: The physical basis, Contribution of working group I to the 4th assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In: Solomon, S., et al. (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2007)
Jensen, E.J., Toon, O.B., Westphal, D.L., Kinne, S., Heymsfield, A.J.: Microphysical modeling of cirrus. 1. Comparison with 1986 FIRE IFO measurements. J. Geophys. Res. 99, 10421–10442 (1994)
Jensen, E.J., Toon, O.B., Vay, S.A., Ovarlez, J., May, R., Bui, P., Twohy, C.H., Gandrud, B., Pueschel, R.F., Schumann, U.: Prevalence of ice-supersaturated regions in the upper troposphere: implications for optically thin ice cloud formation. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 17253–17266 (2001)
Kärcher, B., Burkhardt, U.: A cirrus cloud scheme for general circulation models. Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 134, 1439–1461 (2008). doi:10.1002/qj.301
Koop, T.: Homogeneous ice nucleation in water and aqueous solutions. Z. Phys. Chem. 218, 1231–1258 (2004)
Lamquin, N., Stubenrauch, C., Cros, S., Smit, H., Gierens, K., Burkhardt, U.: A 6-year global climatology of occurrence of upper tropospheric ice supersaturation inferred from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder and its synergy with MOZAIC. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 12, 381–405 (2012)
Liou, K.-N.: Influence of cirrus clouds on weather and climate processes: a global perspective. Mon. Weather Rev. 114, 1167–1199 (1986)
Lohmann, U., Kärcher, B.: First interactive simulations of cirrus clouds formed by homogeneous freezing in the ECHAM GCM. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 4105 (2002). doi:10.1029/2001JD000767
Luo, Z., Rossow, W.B.: Characterizing tropical cirrus life cycle, evolution and interaction with upper-tropospheric water vapor using lagrangian trajectory analysis of satellite observations. J. Clim. 17, 4541–4563 (2004)
Miloshevich, L.M., Heymsfield, A.J.: A balloon-borne continuous cloud particle replicator for measuring vertical profiles of cloud microphysical properties: instrument design, performance, and collection efficiency analysis. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 14, 753–768 (1997)
Ovarlez, J., van Velthoven, P., Sachse, G., Vay, S., Schlager, H., Ovarlez, H.: Comparison of water vapor measurements from POLINAT 2 with ECMWF analyses in high humidity conditions. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 3737–3744 (2000)
Pincus, R., Klein, S.A.: Unresolved spatial variability and microphysical process rates in large-scale models. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 27059–27065 (2000)
Ponater, M., Marquart, S., Sausen, R.: Contrails in a comprehensive global climate model: parameterization and radiative forcing results. J. Geophys. Res. 107(D13), 4164 (2002). doi: 10.1029/2001JD000429
Sölch, I., Kärcher, B.: A large eddy model for cirrus clouds with explicit aerosol and ice microphysics and Lagrangian ice particle tracking. Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 136, 2074–2093 (2010)
Sölch, I., Kärcher, B.: Process-oriented large-eddy simulations of a midlatitude cirrus cloud system based on observations. Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 137(655), 374–393 (2011)
Spichtinger, P., Gierens, K.: Modelling of cirrus clouds—Part 1a: Model description and validation. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 9, 685–706 (2009)
Starr, D.O.C., Cox, S.K.: Cirrus clouds. Part I: A cirrus cloud model. J. Atmos. Sci. 42, 2663–2681 (1985)
Stephens, G.L., Vane, D.G., Boain, R.J., Mace, G.G., Sassen, K., Wang, Z., Illingworth, A.J., O’Connor, E.J., Rossow, W.B., Durden, S.L., et al.: The CloudSat mission and the A-train: a new dimension of space-based observations of clouds and precipitation. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 83, 1771–1790 (2002). doi:10.1175/BAMS-83-12-1771
Stephens, G.L.: Cloud feedbacks in the climate system: a critical review. J. Clim. 18, 237–273 (2005)
Ström, J., Seifert, M., Kärcher, B., Ovarlez, J., Minikin, A., Gayet, J.-F., Krejci, R., Petzold, A., Auriol, F., Haag, W., et al.: Cirrus cloud occurrence as function of ambient relative humidity: a comparison of observations obtained during the INCA experiment. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 3, 1807–1816 (2003)
Thorsen, T.J., Fu, Q., Comstock, J.: Comparison of the CALIPSO satellite and ground-based observations of cirrus clouds at the ARM TWP sites. J. Geophys. Res. 116, D21203 (2011). doi:10.1029/2011JD015970
Tompkins, A.: A prognostic parameterization for the subgrid-scale variability of water vapor and clouds in large-scale models and its use to diagnose cloud cover. J. Atmos. Sci. 59, 1917–1942 (2002)
Tompkins, A., Gierens, K., Rädel, G.: Ice supersaturation in the ECMWF integrated forecast system. Quart. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 133, 53–63 (2007)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burkhardt, U., Sölch, I. (2012). Cirrus Clouds and Their Representation in Models. In: Schumann, U. (eds) Atmospheric Physics. Research Topics in Aerospace. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30183-4_42
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30183-4_42
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-30182-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-30183-4
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)