Articles | Volume 26, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4153-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4153-2026
ACP Letters
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26 Mar 2026
ACP Letters | Highlight paper |  | 26 Mar 2026

Emerging low-cloud feedback and adjustment in global satellite observations

Paulo Ceppi, Sarah Wilson Kemsley, Hendrik Andersen, Timothy Andrews, Ryan J. Kramer, Peer Nowack, Casey J. Wall, and Mark D. Zelinka

Data sets

HadGEM3-GC31-LL estimated inversion strength (EIS) fields for an amip experiment forced with HadISST1 SST and sea-ice Paulo Ceppi and Timothy Andrews https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18592827

CERES monthly daytime mean regionally averaged Terra and Aqua TOA fluxes and associated cloud properties stratified by optical depth and effective pressure Edition4A NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/Terra-Aqua/CERES/FLUXBYCLDTYP-MONTH_L3.004A

CERES energy balanced and filled (EBAF) TOA monthly means data in netCDF Edition4.2 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA-AQUA-NOAA20/CERES/EBAF-TOA_L3B004.2

CERES monthly daytime mean regionally averaged NOAA-20 TOA fluxes and associated cloud properties stratified by optical depth and effective pressure Edition1B NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/NOAA20/CERES/FLUXBYCLDTYP-MONTH_L3.001B

ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7

ERA5 monthly averaged data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.6860a573

MERRA-2 instM_2d_asm_Nx: 2d, Monthly mean, Single-Level, Assimilation, Single-Level Diagnostics, V5.12.4 GMAO - Global Modeling and Assimilation Office https://doi.org/10.5067/5ESKGQTZG7FO

MERRA-2 instM_3d_asm_Np: 3d, Monthly mean, Pressure-Level, Assimilation, Assimilated Meteorological Fields, V5.12.4 GMAO - Global Modeling and Assimilation Office https://doi.org/10.5067/2E096JV59PK7

The Japanese Reanalysis for Three Quarters of a Century (JRA-3Q) JMA - Japan Meteorological Agency https://doi.org/10.20783/DIAS.645

Sounder SIPS: AQUA AIRS IR-only Level 3 CLIMCAPS: Comprehensive Quality Control Gridded Monthly, V7.0 C. Barnet https://doi.org/10.5067/ZPZ430KOPMIX

Aqua/AIRS L3 Monthly Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS-only) 1 degree x 1 degree AIRS project https://doi.org/10.5067/UBENJB9D3T2H

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Editorial statement
Recent observations show a decrease in global low-level cloudiness, which has implications for the rate of global warming. This study shows that the decrease can be explained by known physical processes – cloud feedback and adjustments to greenhouse gases and aerosols. Global climate models simulate similar trends, providing confidence that current estimates of aerosol forcing and climate sensitivity are consistent with the observational record.
Short summary
Recent decades have seen a marked decrease in global low-level cloud cover, leading to more sunlight heating the Earth. This trend is poorly understood, raising the concern that clouds may amplify global warming more than previously thought. We show that the cloud decrease is mostly caused by human forcing on climate, and that it agrees with previous estimates of how clouds respond to decreasing aerosol pollution, increasing greenhouse gas concentration, and their effects on global temperature.
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