Simulating Arctic aerosol-cloud interactions in a warm air intrusion event during the MOSAiC campaign

Aerosols play a crucial role in determining the characteristics and radiative impacts of Arctic clouds. Parameterisations of aerosols and clouds in climate models remain uncertain, confounding efforts to improve our understanding of their behaviour both now and in the future. Moreover, model biases in cloud microphysics are compounded by interlinked biases in Arctic boundary layer structure, surface properties and large-scale meteorology. This interdependence among variables poses significant hurdles for modelers attempting to accurately simulate Arctic atmospheric processes.

In this study, we have used a regional atmospheric model, the UK Met Office Unified Model, coupled to a cloud microphysical model (Cloud Aerosol Interacting Microphysics, CASIM) and an aerosol-chemistry-climate model (UK Chemistry and Aerosols, UKCA). This integrated approach has been employed to investigate warm air intrusion events during April 2020 of the MOSAiC campaign. Our results provide vital information on the behaviour of model processes that have been tuned for mid-latitude regimes, such as cloud droplet activation, in the Arctic environment during warm air intrusion events that had clear impacts on the surface energy budget.