Analysis of polarimetric satellite measurements suggests stronger cooling due to aerosol-cloud interactions.
Nat Commun
; 10(1): 5405, 2019 11 27.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31776336
ABSTRACT
Anthropogenic aerosol emissions lead to an increase in the amount of cloud condensation nuclei and consequently an increase in cloud droplet number concentration and cloud albedo. The corresponding negative radiative forcing due to aerosol cloud interactions (RF[Formula see text]) is one of the most uncertain radiative forcing terms as reported in the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Here we show that previous observation-based studies underestimate aerosol-cloud interactions because they used measurements of aerosol optical properties that are not directly related to cloud formation and are hampered by measurement uncertainties. We have overcome this problem by the use of new polarimetric satellite retrievals of the relevant aerosol properties (aerosol number, size, shape). The resulting estimate of RF[Formula see text] = -1.14 Wm[Formula see text] (range between -0.84 and -1.72 Wm[Formula see text]) is more than a factor 2 stronger than the IPCC estimate that includes also other aerosol induced changes in cloud properties.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Nat Commun
Journal subject:
BIOLOGIA
/
CIENCIA
Year:
2019
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Netherlands