In this study we explore aerosol-cloud interactions in liquid-phase clouds over eastern China (EC) and its adjacent ocean (ECO) using the WRF-Chem-SBM model with four-dimensional assimilation. The results show that our simulations and analyses based on each vertical layer provide a more detailed representation of the aerosol-cloud relationship compared to the column-based analyses which have been widely conducted previously. For aerosol activation, cloud droplet number concentration (Nd) generally increases with aerosol number concentration (Naero) at low Naero and decreases with Naero at high Naero. The main difference between EC and ECO is that Nd increases faster in ECO than EC at low Naero due to abundant water vapor, whereas at high Naero, when aerosol activation in ECO is suppressed, Nd in EC shows significant fluctuation due to strong surface effects (longwave radiation cooling and terrain uplift) and intense updrafts. Cloud liquid water content (CLWC) increases with Nd, but the increase rate gradually slows down for precipitating clouds, while CLWC increases and then decreases in non-precipitating clouds. Higher Nd and CLWC can be found in EC than in ECO, and the transition-point Nd value at which CLWC in non-precipitating clouds changes from increasing to decreasing is also higher in EC. Aerosol activation is strongest at moderate Naero, but CLWC increases relatively fast at low Naero. ECO cloud processes are more limited by cooling and humidification, whereas strong and diverse surface and atmospheric processes in EC allow intense cloud processes to occur under significant warming or drying conditions.
