Influence of sea salt aerosols on the development of Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones

Medicanes are mesoscale tropical-like cyclones that develop in the Mediterranean basin and represent a great hazard for the coastal population. The skill to accurately simulate them is of utmost importance to prevent economical and personal damage. Medicanes are fueled by the latent heat released in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2021-09, Vol.21 (17), p.13353-13368
Main Authors: Pravia-Sarabia, Enrique, Gómez-Navarro, Juan José, Jiménez-Guerrero, Pedro, Montávez, Juan Pedro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosol concentrations
Aerosols
Analysis
Boundary conditions
Chemistry
Climate change
Cloud condensation nuclei
Condensation
Condensation nuclei
Convective activity
Cyclones
Damage prevention
Influence
Latent heat
Marine aerosols
Marine environment
Meteorology
Physics
Radiation
Salt
Simulation
Storms
Tropical climate
Weather
Wind
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Summary:Medicanes are mesoscale tropical-like cyclones that develop in the Mediterranean basin and represent a great hazard for the coastal population. The skill to accurately simulate them is of utmost importance to prevent economical and personal damage. Medicanes are fueled by the latent heat released in the condensation process associated with convective activity, which is regulated by the presence and activation of cloud condensation nuclei, mainly originating from sea salt aerosols (SSAs) for marine environments. Henceforth, the purpose of this contribution is twofold: assessing the effects of an interactive calculation of SSA on the strengthening and persistence of medicanes, and providing insight into the casuistry and sensitivities around their simulation processes. To this end, a set of simulations have been conducted with a chemistry–meteorology coupled model considering prescribed aerosol (PA) and interactive aerosol (IA) concentrations. The results indicate that IA produces longer-lasting and more intense medicanes. Further, the role of the initialization time and nudging strategies for medicane simulations has been explored. Overall, the results suggest that (1) the application of spectral nudging dampens the effects of IA, (2) the initialization time introduces a strong variability in the storm dynamics, and (3) wind–SSA feedback is crucial and should be considered when studying medicanes.
ISSN:1680-7324
1680-7316
1680-7324
DOI:10.5194/acp-21-13353-2021