Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 45, Issue 1, Pages 372-381Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075795
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [1303965]
- NERC studentship [NE/K500835/1]
- Pollution in the ARCtic System (PARCS) project (CNRS/INSU)
- Universite de Lille
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The rate of warming in the Arctic depends upon the response of low-level microphysical and radiative cloud properties to aerosols advected from distant anthropogenic and biomass-burning sources. Cloud droplet cross-section density increases with higher concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei, leading to an increase of cloud droplet absorption and scattering radiative cross sections. The challenge of assessing the magnitude of the effect has been decoupling the aerosol impacts on clouds from how clouds change solely due to natural meteorological variability. Here we address this issue with large, multi-year satellite, meteorological, and tracer transport model data sets to show that the response of low-level clouds in the Arctic to anthropogenic aerosols lies close to a theoretical maximum and is between 2 and 8 times higher than has been observed elsewhere. However, a previously described response of arctic clouds to biomass-burning plumes appears to be overstated because the interactions are rare and modification of cloud radiative properties appears better explained by coincident changes in temperature, humidity, and atmospheric stability.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available