Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Articles | Volume 16, issue 22
Articles | Volume 16, issue 22
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14331–14342, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue: Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX)

Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14331–14342, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Articles | Volume 16, issue 22

Research article 17 Nov 2016

Research article | 17 Nov 2016

Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity

Laura Riuttanen1, Marja Bister1, Veli-Matti Kerminen1, Viju O. John2,3, Anu-Maija Sundström1,a, Miikka Dal Maso4, Jouni Räisänen1, Victoria A. Sinclair1, Risto Makkonen1, Filippo Xausa1, Gerrit de Leeuw1,5, and Markku Kulmala1 Laura Riuttanen et al.
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  • 1Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 48, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
  • 2Met Office Hadley Centre, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, Devon, EX1 3PB, UK
  • 3EUMETSAT, Eumetsat Allee 1, 64295 Darmstadt, Germany
  • 4Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 692, 33101 Tampere, Finland
  • 5Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O. Box 503, 00101 Helsinki, Finland
  • anow at: EMPA, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Received: 27 Jun 2016 – Discussion started: 08 Jul 2016 – Revised: 14 Oct 2016 – Accepted: 19 Oct 2016 – Published: 17 Nov 2016

Abstract. Aerosol–cloud interactions are the largest source of uncertainty in the radiative forcing of the global climate. A phenomenon not included in the estimates of the total net forcing is the potential increase in upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) by anthropogenic aerosols via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 ± 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause of this result, indicating relevance for the global climate. In tropical moist air such an UTH increase leads to a regional radiative effect of 0.5 ± 0.4 W m−2. We conclude that the effect of aerosols on UTH should be included in future studies of anthropogenic climate change and climate sensitivity.

How to cite. Riuttanen, L., Bister, M., Kerminen, V.-M., John, V. O., Sundström, A.-M., Dal Maso, M., Räisänen, J., Sinclair, V. A., Makkonen, R., Xausa, F., de Leeuw, G., and Kulmala, M.: Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14331–14342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016, 2016.
Special issue
Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX)
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Here we show observational evidence that aerosols increase upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 ± 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause for this result indicating relevance for the global climate.
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