Inside the Asian Summer Monsoon: in situ observations from within deep convective clouds
Year: 2025
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: The Asian summer monsoon (ASM) anticyclone is the largest circulatory system in the northern hemisphere. Deep convective systems develop in the ASM, providing fast pathways to (re)distribute aerosols, trace gases, and water vapour throughout the troposphere, eventually even overshooting into the stratosphere. Here, we will present unique in situ observations from within deep convective clouds, obtained during the StratoClim campaign (over Nepal) during the ASM in 2017, that employed the high altitude aircraft Geophysica (max. ceiling 21km). The Geophysica was carrying a set of in situ cloud microphysical instrumentation (scattering and optical array probes, and a back scatter sonde), as well as a miniature lidar for observing clouds in the vicinity of the aircraft. Additionally, instrumentation for trace gas observations were onboard.We will present the general vertical microphysical structure of the probed clouds, by means of ice water content, mean particle sizes and numbers, and size distributions. Furthermore, trace gas measurements are used to identify up- and downdrafts in the clouds, to enable comparison of cloud microphysical properties in updrafts and downdrafts. The high altitude measurements were able to provide observations from within convective overshoots reaching into the stratosphere (above roughly 17.7km). Very large cloud particles of up to 900µm in diameter were observed in those overshoots. We will compare these rare data with similar observations from other tropical regions.
DOI: 10.5194/ecss2025-121
Institutions: Wageningen University & Research, Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (Switzerland), University of Bern, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Sorbonne Université, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales, National Institute of Optics, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413246451