Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
ACP
Articles | Volume 23, issue 20
Articles | Volume 23, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13125-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 23, issue 20
Research article
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18 Oct 2023
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 18 Oct 2023

Global observations of aerosol indirect effects from marine liquid clouds

Casey J. Wall, Trude Storelvmo, and Anna Possner

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One of the largest sources of uncertainty in the overall anthropogenic forcing of climate is still the aerosol impact on liquid clouds. Disentangling the various aerosol-cloud interactions helps to improve estimates of the magnitude of global warming in the future. The current study provides the most rigorous method to date in assessing the aerosol radiative effects from satellite observations across the global ocean. The aerosol responses are decomposed into the Twomey effect (cooling due to an increase in cloud-droplet number concentration), and the adjustments of the cloud liquid water path and cloud fraction (often analysed separately) at a near-global scale. The total effective radiative forcing of liquid clouds since 1850 has been found to be negative, with the cloud adjustments larger than the Twomey effect, which was previously thought to be larger.
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Interactions between aerosol pollution and liquid clouds are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the effective radiative forcing of climate over the industrial era. We use global satellite observations to decompose the forcing into components from changes in cloud-droplet number concentration, cloud water content, and cloud amount. Our results reduce uncertainty in these forcing components and clarify their relative importance.
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