The ACCESS-AM2 climate model underestimates  aerosol concentration in the Southern Ocean;  improving aerosol representation could be problematic for the global energy balance

Fiddes, Sonya L.; Woodhouse, Matthew T.; Mallet, Marc D.; Lamprey, Liam J.; Humphries, Ruhi S.; Protat, Alain; Alexander, Simon P.; Hayashida, Hakase; Putland, Samuel; Miljevic, Branka; Schofield, Robyn

doi:10.5194/acp-25-16451-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16451-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-16451-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 22

Research article

|

24 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 24 Nov 2025

The ACCESS-AM2 climate model underestimates aerosol concentration in the Southern Ocean; improving aerosol representation could be problematic for the global energy balance

Sonya L. Fiddes, Matthew T. Woodhouse, Marc D. Mallet, Liam J. Lamprey, Ruhi S. Humphries, Alain Protat, Simon P. Alexander, Hakase Hayashida, Samuel Putland, Branka Miljevic, and Robyn Schofield

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Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2024	90	47	7	144
Nov 2024	141	56	5	202
Dec 2024	50	22	2	74
Jan 2025	38	13	8	59
Feb 2025	16	11	7	34
Mar 2025	19	14	0	33
Apr 2025	16	10	4	30
May 2025	19	2	44	65
Jun 2025	31	29	11	71
Jul 2025	32	21	0	53
Aug 2025	103	12	1	116
Sep 2025	352	24	10	386
Oct 2025	41	14	3	58
Nov 2025	464	50	7	521
Dec 2025	300	92	10	402
Jan 2026	557	75	19	651
Feb 2026	190	63	15	268
Mar 2026	128	56	5	189
Apr 2026	47	35	1	83

Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 21 Oct 2024)

Month	HTML	PDF	XML	Total
Oct 2024	90	47	7	144
Nov 2024	141	56	5	202
Dec 2024	50	22	2	74
Jan 2025	38	13	8	59
Feb 2025	16	11	7	34
Mar 2025	19	14	0	33
Apr 2025	16	10	4	30
May 2025	19	2	44	65
Jun 2025	31	29	11	71
Jul 2025	32	21	0	53
Aug 2025	103	12	1	116
Sep 2025	352	24	10	386
Oct 2025	41	14	3	58
Nov 2025	464	50	7	521
Dec 2025	300	92	10	402
Jan 2026	557	75	19	651
Feb 2026	190	63	15	268
Mar 2026	128	56	5	189
Apr 2026	47	35	1	83

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Total article views: 3,439 (including HTML, PDF, and XML) Thereof 3,439 with geography defined and 0 with unknown origin.

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Short summary

The interaction between natural marine aerosols, clouds and radiation in the Southern Ocean is a major source of uncertainty in climate models. We evaluate the Australian climate model using aerosol observations and find it underestimates aerosol number often by over 50%. Model changes were tested to improve aerosol concentrations, but some of our changes had severe negative effects on the larger climate system, highlighting issues in aerosol-cloud interaction modelling.