Aerosol, Cloud, and Meteorological Data Over Arctic Sea Ice (May-September, 2008-2010, 2012-2015)

The amount of liquid and ice in clouds affects how much they warm or cool the surface in the rapidly warming Arctic. Dust aerosols cause cloud droplets to freeze and may be why clouds at similar temperatures are substantially icier over the Arctic than over the cleaner Antarctic. This data set includes data underlying the figures in Zamora and Kahn (2024), "Dust-driven cloud glaciation over summertime Arctic sea ice" (submitted). We used satellite, reanalysis, and model information to better understand how clouds containing dust were different from other clouds in similar meteorological conditions over summertime sea ice and how this might affect cloud radiative effects. We also assessed which meteorological and aerosol variables were most predictive of cloud changes associated with dust. The data from this study are taken between May to September from the years 2008-2010 and 2012-2015.
This data set specifically includes information on cloud phases over sea ice between 0.6 to 8.5 kilometers (km) (fC.csv). The rest of the data focuses on clouds at 3 km over sea ice. It includes information on estimated dust-driven increases in cloud glaciation in different meteorological conditions (del2.csv), and whether these changes are significant based on a Wilcoxon rank test (del2p.csv). There are also data on changes in cloud, aerosol, and meteorological properties in different 400 square kilometer (km2) grids within different meteorological conditions that are associated with dust levels that are enhanced from background levels (tog.csv). Lastly, there is information on single-layer clouds at least partially overlapping with 2.5-3.5 km elevation, including the change in cloud radiative effect associated with dust aerosols and associated uncertainties for these clouds, the average FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model (FLEXPART) and Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis dust concentrations associated with the clouds, the average percent (%) of time that the clouds were at temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius (℃), and the average solar zenith angle for the clouds at the time of measurement (fig2.csv).
Supplemental data are also included. The file SFig1.csv includes information on the relationship between MERRA-2 dust or FLEXPART dust and CALIPSO satellite aerosol layers at different altitudes. The file tog_SF3.csv includes information similar to tog.csv, but focuses on cloud differences related to sulfate aerosols instead of dust aerosols.