A global satellite view of aerosol cloud interactions

Long-term and large-scale correlations between Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) aerosol optical depth and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) monthly cloud amount data show significant regional scale relationships between cloud amount and aerosols, consistent wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Luo, C.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Pacific
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-4-6823-2004
https://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acpd-2004-0190/
Description
Summary:Long-term and large-scale correlations between Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) aerosol optical depth and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) monthly cloud amount data show significant regional scale relationships between cloud amount and aerosols, consistent with aerosol-cloud interactions. Positive correlations between aerosols and cloud amount are associated with North American and Asian aerosols in the North Atlantic and Pacific storm tracks, and mineral aerosols in the tropical North Atlantic. Negative correlations are seen near biomass burning regions of North Africa and Indonesia, as well as south of the main mineral aerosol source of North Africa. These results suggest that there are relationships between aerosols and clouds in the observations that can be used by general circulation models to verify the correct forcing mechanisms for both direct and indirect radiative forcing by clouds.

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