Articles | Volume 24, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7331-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 Jun 2024
Research article |
| 27 Jun 2024
| 27 Jun 2024
General circulation models simulate negative liquid water path–droplet number correlations, but anthropogenic aerosols still increase simulated liquid water path
Johannes Mülmenstädt
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Edward Gryspeerdt
Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment, Imperial College London, London, UK
Sudhakar Dipu
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Johannes Quaas
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Andrew S. Ackerman
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
Ann M. Fridlind
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
Florian Tornow
Center for Climate System Research, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
Susanne E. Bauer
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, USA
Andrew Gettelman
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Yi Ming
Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society and Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Boston College, Boston, MA, USA
Youtong Zheng
Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Program, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Po-Lun Ma
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Hailong Wang
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Kai Zhang
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Matthew W. Christensen
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Adam C. Varble
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
L. Ruby Leung
Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA
Xiaohong Liu
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
David Neubauer
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland
Daniel G. Partridge
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Philip Stier
Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Toshihiko Takemura
Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
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Cited
21 citations as recorded by crossref.
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- Observing the role of wind-driven processes in the evolution of warm marine cloud properties V. Nair et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4049-2026
- Can general circulation models (GCMs) represent cloud liquid water path adjustments to aerosol–cloud interactions? J. Mülmenstädt et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13633-2024
- Co-variability drives the inverted-V sensitivity between liquid water path and droplet concentrations T. Goren et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3413-2025
- Beyond discrete stratocumulus regimes: a ternary continuum of morphology reveals within-regime variability in cloud susceptibilities T. Goren et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7193-2026
- Radiative forcing from the 2020 shipping fuel regulation is large but hard to detect J. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01911-9
- Recent Advances in the Observation and Modeling of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Cloud Feedbacks, and Earth’s Energy Imbalance: A Review T. Michibata et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40726-025-00382-6
- Understanding the causes of satellite–model discrepancies in aerosol–cloud interactions using near-LES simulations of marine boundary layer clouds S. Qiu et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1769-2026
- Reduced aerosol pollution diminished cloud reflectivity over the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific K. von Salzen et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65127-x
- Fine and coarse aerosols control of cloud water by evaporation-precipitation dynamics F. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01193-8
- Cloud water adjustments to aerosol perturbations are buffered by solar heating in non-precipitating marine stratocumuli J. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10425-2024
- Constraining aerosol–cloud adjustments by uniting surface observations with a perturbed parameter ensemble A. Mikkelsen et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4547-2025
- The impact of aerosol on cloud water: a heuristic perspective F. Hoffmann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024
- Cloud fraction response to aerosol driven by nighttime processes G. Pugsley et al. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2509949122
- Machine learning advances and data model coevolution in geoscience A. Eltijnai & M. Mohammed https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-026-00524-3
- Model analysis of biases in the satellite-diagnosed aerosol effect on the cloud liquid water path H. Kokkola et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1533-2025
- Sampling Bias From Satellite Retrieval Failures of Cloud Properties and Its Implications for Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions G. Choudhury & T. Goren https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115429
- Regime-based aerosol–cloud interactions from CALIPSO-MODIS and the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2) over the Eastern North Atlantic X. Zheng et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025
- Aerosol and non-aerosol drivers of regional trends in top-of-atmosphere albedo over 2002–2020 N. Clément et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae687e
- Climate warming could weaken aerosol-cloud interactions in subtropical marine stratocumulus H. Sun et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-026-01357-0
- On the processes determining the slope of cloud water adjustments in weakly and non-precipitating stratocumulus F. Hoffmann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8657-2025
21 citations as recorded by crossref.
- Prescribing the aerosol effective radiative forcing in the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model v1 N. Mahfouz et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15105-2025
- Observing the role of wind-driven processes in the evolution of warm marine cloud properties V. Nair et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4049-2026
- Can general circulation models (GCMs) represent cloud liquid water path adjustments to aerosol–cloud interactions? J. Mülmenstädt et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13633-2024
- Co-variability drives the inverted-V sensitivity between liquid water path and droplet concentrations T. Goren et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3413-2025
- Beyond discrete stratocumulus regimes: a ternary continuum of morphology reveals within-regime variability in cloud susceptibilities T. Goren et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7193-2026
- Radiative forcing from the 2020 shipping fuel regulation is large but hard to detect J. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01911-9
- Recent Advances in the Observation and Modeling of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions, Cloud Feedbacks, and Earth’s Energy Imbalance: A Review T. Michibata et al. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40726-025-00382-6
- Understanding the causes of satellite–model discrepancies in aerosol–cloud interactions using near-LES simulations of marine boundary layer clouds S. Qiu et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1769-2026
- Reduced aerosol pollution diminished cloud reflectivity over the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific K. von Salzen et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65127-x
- Fine and coarse aerosols control of cloud water by evaporation-precipitation dynamics F. Liu et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-01193-8
- Cloud water adjustments to aerosol perturbations are buffered by solar heating in non-precipitating marine stratocumuli J. Zhang et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10425-2024
- Constraining aerosol–cloud adjustments by uniting surface observations with a perturbed parameter ensemble A. Mikkelsen et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4547-2025
- The impact of aerosol on cloud water: a heuristic perspective F. Hoffmann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13403-2024
- Cloud fraction response to aerosol driven by nighttime processes G. Pugsley et al. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2509949122
- Machine learning advances and data model coevolution in geoscience A. Eltijnai & M. Mohammed https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-026-00524-3
- Model analysis of biases in the satellite-diagnosed aerosol effect on the cloud liquid water path H. Kokkola et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1533-2025
- Sampling Bias From Satellite Retrieval Failures of Cloud Properties and Its Implications for Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions G. Choudhury & T. Goren https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115429
- Regime-based aerosol–cloud interactions from CALIPSO-MODIS and the Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 2 (E3SMv2) over the Eastern North Atlantic X. Zheng et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025
- Aerosol and non-aerosol drivers of regional trends in top-of-atmosphere albedo over 2002–2020 N. Clément et al. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae687e
- Climate warming could weaken aerosol-cloud interactions in subtropical marine stratocumulus H. Sun et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-026-01357-0
- On the processes determining the slope of cloud water adjustments in weakly and non-precipitating stratocumulus F. Hoffmann et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8657-2025
Saved (final revised paper)
Latest update: 03 Jun 2026
Short summary
Human activities release copious amounts of small particles called aerosols into the atmosphere. These particles change how much sunlight clouds reflect to space, an important human perturbation of the climate, whose magnitude is highly uncertain. We found that the latest climate models show a negative correlation but a positive causal relationship between aerosols and cloud water. This means we need to be very careful when we interpret observational studies that can only see correlation.
Human activities release copious amounts of small particles called aerosols into the atmosphere....
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