Long-term trends of aerosol and cloud fraction over Eastern China based on ground-based observations

We looked into the long-term variability of aerosols and clouds over Eastern China (EC) using MICAPS ground-based data from 1995 to 2019 and MODIS aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieval from 2003 to 2019. The ground-based observed visibility (VIS) was used to characterize aerosol concentrations. Our study indicate that VIS shows a significant shift over EC in recent decades, as evidenced by falling (P1: 1995–2006)-flat (P2: 2007–2013)-rising (P3: 2014–2019) periods. Correspondingly, a change was observed in cloud fraction (CF) from a strong increase to a slow fluctuation during the three periods over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), but no significant variation over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. In addition, the CF-VIS shows a negative correlation during both P1 and P3 periods while this relationship weakened during P3 (35% weaker in BTH and 44% weaker in YRD). However, it is important to note that this weakening may be influenced by a few factors, such as data processing methods, the location of aerosols relative to the cloud, relative humidity (RH), and large-scale circulation etc. Further studies, including numerical simulations and analysis, are required to determine how much change of cloudiness is attributed to aerosols.