Change from aerosol-driven to cloud-feedback-driven trend in short-wave radiative flux over the North Atlantic

Grosvenor, Daniel P.; Carslaw, Kenneth S.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6743-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6743-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6743-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 12

Research article

|

20 Jun 2023

Research article |

| 20 Jun 2023

Change from aerosol-driven to cloud-feedback-driven trend in short-wave radiative flux over the North Atlantic

Daniel P. Grosvenor and Kenneth S. Carslaw

Data sets

Reconstructions of the radiation fluxes at top of atmosphere and net surface energy flux in the period 1985--2015 from DEEP-C project C. Liu and R. Allan https://doi.org/10.17864/1947.111

Cloud Properties from ISCCP and PATMOS-x Corrected for Spurious Variability Related to Changes in Satellite Orbits, Instrument Calibrations, and Other Factors, Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research J. R. Norris and A. T. Evan https://doi.org/10.5065/D62J68XR

Multisensor Advanced Climatology Mean Liquid Water Path L3 Monthly 1 degree X 1 degree V1 G. Elsaesser, C. O'Dell, M. Lebsock and J. Teixeira https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/MACLWPM

Short summary

We determine what causes long-term trends in short-wave (SW) radiative fluxes in two climate models. A positive trend occurs between 1850 and 1970 (increasing SW reflection) and a negative trend between 1970 and 2014; the pre-1970 positive trend is mainly driven by an increase in cloud droplet number concentrations due to increases in aerosol, and the 1970–2014 trend is driven by a decrease in cloud fraction, which we attribute to changes in clouds caused by greenhouse gas-induced warming.