Direct and Remote Sensing Observations of the Effects of Ships on Clouds

Under certain conditions ships can affect the structure of shallow layer clouds. Simultaneous observations of two ship track signatures in stratus clouds from a satellite and in situ from an aircraft show that in the ship tracks the droplet sizes were reduced and total concentrations of both droplet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1989-12, Vol.246 (4934), p.1146-1149
Main Authors: Radke, Lawrence F., Coakley, James A., King, Michael D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
air pollution
Aircraft
anthropogenic factors
Artificial satellites
Atmosphere
atmospheric conditions
climate
Clouds
emissions
environmental impact
HIV 1
Marine
Meteorology And Climatology
Particle tracks
particles
Radiance
radiometers
reflectance
reflectivity
remote sensing
satellite sensing
satellites
Ships
Stratocumulus clouds
Upwelling water
Wavelengths
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Summary:Under certain conditions ships can affect the structure of shallow layer clouds. Simultaneous observations of two ship track signatures in stratus clouds from a satellite and in situ from an aircraft show that in the ship tracks the droplet sizes were reduced and total concentrations of both droplets and particles were substantially increased from those in adjacent clouds. In situ measurements of the upwelling radiance within the ship tracks was significantly enhanced at visible wavelengths, whereas radiance at 2.2 micrometers was significantly reduced. Cloud reflectivity along the tracks was enhanced at 0.63 and 3.7 micrometers. These observations support the contention that ship track signatures in clouds are produced primarily by particles emitted from ships.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.246.4934.1146