The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks
The Earth's albedo is observed to be symmetric between the hemispheres on the annual mean timescale, despite the clear-sky albedo being asymmetrically higher in the Northern Hemisphere due to more land area and aerosol sources; this is because the mean cloud distribution currently compensates f...
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2023
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 https://doaj.org/article/27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 2023-05-15T13:10:41+02:00 The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks A. R. Jönsson F. A.-M. Bender 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 https://doaj.org/article/27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/14/345/2023/esd-14-345-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2190-4979 https://doaj.org/toc/2190-4987 doi:10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 2190-4979 2190-4987 https://doaj.org/article/27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 Earth System Dynamics, Vol 14, Pp 345-365 (2023) Science Q Geology QE1-996.5 Dynamic and structural geology QE500-639.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 2023-03-26T01:35:07Z The Earth's albedo is observed to be symmetric between the hemispheres on the annual mean timescale, despite the clear-sky albedo being asymmetrically higher in the Northern Hemisphere due to more land area and aerosol sources; this is because the mean cloud distribution currently compensates for the clear-sky asymmetry almost exactly. We investigate the evolution of the hemispheric difference in albedo in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) coupled model simulations following an abrupt quadrupling of CO 2 concentrations, to which all models respond with an initial decrease of albedo in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) due to loss of Arctic sea ice. Models disagree over whether the net effect of NH cloud responses is to reduce or amplify initial NH albedo reductions. After the initial response, the evolution of the hemispheric albedo difference diverges among models, with some models remaining stably at their new hemispheric albedo difference and others returning towards their pre-industrial difference primarily through a reduction in SH cloud cover. Whereas local increases in cloud cover contribute to negative shortwave cloud feedback, the cross-hemispheric communicating mechanism found to be primarily responsible for restoring hemispheric symmetry in the models studied implies positive shortwave cloud feedback. Article in Journal/Newspaper albedo Arctic Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Earth System Dynamics 14 2 345 365 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Science Q Geology QE1-996.5 Dynamic and structural geology QE500-639.5 |
spellingShingle |
Science Q Geology QE1-996.5 Dynamic and structural geology QE500-639.5 A. R. Jönsson F. A.-M. Bender The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
topic_facet |
Science Q Geology QE1-996.5 Dynamic and structural geology QE500-639.5 |
description |
The Earth's albedo is observed to be symmetric between the hemispheres on the annual mean timescale, despite the clear-sky albedo being asymmetrically higher in the Northern Hemisphere due to more land area and aerosol sources; this is because the mean cloud distribution currently compensates for the clear-sky asymmetry almost exactly. We investigate the evolution of the hemispheric difference in albedo in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) coupled model simulations following an abrupt quadrupling of CO 2 concentrations, to which all models respond with an initial decrease of albedo in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) due to loss of Arctic sea ice. Models disagree over whether the net effect of NH cloud responses is to reduce or amplify initial NH albedo reductions. After the initial response, the evolution of the hemispheric albedo difference diverges among models, with some models remaining stably at their new hemispheric albedo difference and others returning towards their pre-industrial difference primarily through a reduction in SH cloud cover. Whereas local increases in cloud cover contribute to negative shortwave cloud feedback, the cross-hemispheric communicating mechanism found to be primarily responsible for restoring hemispheric symmetry in the models studied implies positive shortwave cloud feedback. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. R. Jönsson F. A.-M. Bender |
author_facet |
A. R. Jönsson F. A.-M. Bender |
author_sort |
A. R. Jönsson |
title |
The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
title_short |
The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
title_full |
The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
title_fullStr |
The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
title_full_unstemmed |
The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
title_sort |
implications of maintaining earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 https://doaj.org/article/27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic Sea ice |
op_source |
Earth System Dynamics, Vol 14, Pp 345-365 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/14/345/2023/esd-14-345-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/2190-4979 https://doaj.org/toc/2190-4987 doi:10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 2190-4979 2190-4987 https://doaj.org/article/27a18d8af0ae4c5caf2e3a0f073d7202 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023 |
container_title |
Earth System Dynamics |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
345 |
op_container_end_page |
365 |
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1766238903003512832 |