Cloudy sky contributions to the direct aerosol effect

Myhre, G., Samset, B. H., Mohr, C. W., Alterskjær, K., Balkanski, Y., Bellouin, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2109-9559, Chin, M., Haywood, J., Hodnebrog, Ø., Kinne, S., Lin, G., Lund, M. T., Penner, J. E., Schulz, M., Schutgens, N., Skeie, R. B., Stier, P., Takemura, T. and Zhang, K. (2020) Cloudy sky contributions to the direct aerosol effect. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20 (14). ISSN 1680-7316 doi: 10.5194/acp-2019-1051

Abstract/Summary

The radiative forcing of the aerosol-radiation interaction can be decomposed into clear sky and cloudy sky portions. Two sets of multi-model simulations within AeroCom, combined with observational methods, and the time evolution of aerosol emissions over the industrial era show that the contribution from cloudy sky regions is likely weak. A mean of the simulations considered is 0.01 ± 0.1 Wm-2. Multivariate data analysis of results from AeroCom Phase II shows that many factors influence the strength of the cloudy sky contribution to the forcing of the aerosol-radiation interaction. Overall, single scattering albedo of anthropogenic aerosols and the interaction of aerosols with the shortwave cloud radiative effects are found to be important factors. A more dedicated focus on the contribution from the cloud free and cloud covered sky fraction respectively to the aerosol-radiation interaction will benefit the quantification of the radiative forcing and its uncertainty range.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/91322
Identification Number/DOI	10.5194/acp-2019-1051
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	Copernicus Publications
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