Electrical Effects on Size Distributions of CCN

Observations (Lam et al, 2018, Tinsley, 2022) show responses of high latitude cloud opacity and surface pressure and atmospheric dynamics to day-to-day changes in ion concentration and space charge as the ionosphere-earth current density (Jz) passes through clouds. These are also a strong indicator of similar small, but non-negligible responses to Jz variations on decadal, bi-decadal, and century timescales, due to temporal and latitudinal changes in the atmospheric ionization due to space weather modulation of galactic cosmic rays. To accurately predict the perturbations on trends due to global warming there is a need to extend cloud resolved models that include electrical scavenging, with convection and turbulence, over several days. The clouds respond to changes ~ 10% in ionization and charge asymmetry (space charge), suggesting that the mean level has larger effects on CCN and IN production and loss which have been tuned out of previous models.
The needs for cloud resolved models include:
1. Electro-scavenging and electro-anti-scavenging of charged CN, CCN and IN by charged droplets, with in-cloud processing over several days in stratiform clouds, in order to determine changes in particle and droplet charge and size distributions (extending Yair and Levin, 1989). This has consequences (extending Tinsley and Leddon, 2013; Zhang et al., 2019) for (i) changes in opacity of high-latitude clouds with high ultrafine CN concentrations, and associated IR radiative forcing in darkness; and for (ii) changes in precursors to strongly convective clouds, narrowing CCN size distributions; delaying initial precipitation; transporting more water above the freezing level to increase ice production and latent heat; invigorating the storm (extending Rosenfeld et al., 2008).
2. Production of highly charged evaporation nuclei, and electro-freezing with contact ice nucleation when these are entrained back into the cloud (extending Beard, 1992).