To study the effect of giant cloud condensation nuclei (GCCN) on precipitation processes in stratocumulus clouds, 1–10 μm diameter salt particles (salt powder) were released from an aircraft while flying near the cloud top on 3 August 2011 off the central coast of California. The seeded area was subsequently sampled from the aircraft that was equipped with aerosol, cloud, and precipitation probes and an upward-facing cloud radar. During post-seeding sampling, made 30–60 min after seeding, the mean cloud droplet size increased, the droplet number concentration decreased, and large drop (e.g., diameter larger than 10 μm) concentration increased. Average drizzle rates increased from about 0.05 to 0.20 mm h⁻¹, and the liquid water path decreased from about 52 to 43 g m⁻². Strong radar returns associated with drizzle were observed on the post-seeding cloud-base level-leg flights and were accompanied by a substantial depletion of the cloud liquid water content. The changes were large enough to suggest that the salt particles with concentrations estimated to be 10⁻² to 10^-4 cm⁻³ resulted in a four-fold increase in the cloud-base rainfall rate and depletion of the cloud water due to rainout. In contrast, a case is shown where the cloud was already precipitating (on 10 August) and the effect of adding GCCN to the cloud was insignificant.

An unusually intense African dust event affected a large area of the western Atlantic and eastern Caribbean in early April 2010. Measurements made east of Barbados from the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter research aircraft are used to characterize particle size distributions; vertical distributions of aerosols, temperature, and moisture; and processes leading to the observed stratification in the boundary layer. The vertical profiles of various aerosol characterizations were similar on both days and show three layers with distinct aerosol and thermodynamic characteristics: the Saharan Air Layer (SAL; ~2.2 km ± 500 m), a subcloud layer (SCL; surface to ~500 m), and an intermediate layer extending between them. The SAL and SCL display well‐mixed aerosol and thermodynamic characteristics; but the most significant horizontal and vertical variations in aerosols and thermodynamics occur in the intermediate layer. The aerosol variability observed in the intermediate layer is likely associated with modification by shallow cumulus convection occurring sometime in the prior history of the air mass as it is advected across the Atlantic. A comparison of the thermodynamic structure observed in the event from its origin over Africa with that when it reached Barbados indicates that the lower part of the SAL was moistened by surface fluxes as the air mass was advected across the Atlantic. Mixing diagrams using aerosol concentrations and water vapor mixing ratios as conserved parameters provide insight into the vertical transports and mixing processes that may explain the observed aerosol and thermodynamic variability in each layer.

Precipitation tends to decrease as aerosol concentration increases in warm marine boundary layer clouds at fixed liquid water path (LWP). The quantitative nature of this relationship is captured using the precipitation susceptibility (S_o) metric. Previously published works disagree on the qualitative behavior of S_o in marine low clouds: S_o decreases monotonically with increasing LWP or cloud depth (H) in stratocumulus clouds (Sc), while it increases and then decreases in shallow cumulus clouds (Cu). This study uses airborne measurements from four field campaigns on Cu and Sc with similar instrument packages and flight maneuvers to examine if and why S_o behavior varies as a function of cloud type. The findings show that S_o increases with H and then decreases in both Sc and Cu. Possible reasons for why these results differ from those in previous studies of Sc are discussed.

Shallow marine cumulus clouds are by far the most frequently observed cloud type over the Earth's oceans; but they are poorly understood and have not been investigated as extensively as stratocumulus clouds. This study describes and discusses the properties and variations of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation associated with shallow marine cumulus clouds observed in the North Atlantic trades during a field campaign (Barbados Aerosol Cloud Experiment- BACEX, March–April 2010), which took place off Barbados where African dust periodically affects the region. The principal observing platform was the Center for Interdisciplinary Remotely Piloted Aircraft Studies (CIRPAS) Twin Otter (TO) research aircraft, which was equipped with standard meteorological instruments, a zenith pointing cloud radar and probes that measured aerosol, cloud, and precipitation characteristics.The temporal variation and vertical distribution of aerosols observed from the 15 flights, which included the most intense African dust event during all of 2010 in Barbados, showed a wide range of aerosol conditions. During dusty periods, aerosol concentrations increased substantially in the size range between 0.5 and 10 µm (diameter), particles that are large enough to be effective giant cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The 10-day back trajectories showed three distinct air masses with distinct vertical structures associated with air masses originating in the Atlantic (typical maritime air mass with relatively low aerosol concentrations in the marine boundary layer), Africa (Saharan air layer), and mid-latitudes (continental pollution plumes). Despite the large differences in the total mass loading and the origin of the aerosols, the overall shapes of the aerosol particle size distributions were consistent, with the exception of the transition period.The TO was able to sample many clouds at various phases of growth. Maximum cloud depth observed was less than ∼ 3 km, while most clouds were less than 1 km deep. Clouds tend to precipitate when the cloud is thicker than 500–600 m. Distributions of cloud field characteristics (depth, radar reflectivity, Doppler velocity, precipitation) were well identified in the reflectivity–velocity diagram from the cloud radar observations. Two types of precipitation features were observed for shallow marine cumulus clouds that may impact boundary layer differently: first, a classic cloud-base precipitation where precipitation shafts were observed to emanate from the cloud base; second, cloud-top precipitation where precipitation shafts emanated mainly near the cloud tops, sometimes accompanied by precipitation near the cloud base. The second type of precipitation was more frequently observed during the experiment. Only 42–44 % of the clouds sampled were non-precipitating throughout the entire cloud layer and the rest of the clouds showed precipitation somewhere in the cloud, predominantly closer to the cloud top.