On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate
Marine low clouds are one of the greatest sources of uncertainty for climate projection. We present an observed climatology of cloud albedo susceptibility to cloud droplet number concentration perturbations (S 0 ) with changing sea surface temperature (SST) and estimated inversion strength for singl...
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Online Access: | http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1961661 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1961661 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 |
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ftosti:oai:osti.gov:1961661 2023-07-30T04:05:26+02:00 On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate Zhou, Xiaoli Zhang, Jianhao Feingold, Graham 2023-03-22 application/pdf http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1961661 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1961661 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 unknown http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1961661 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1961661 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 doi:10.1029/2021gl095896 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 2023 ftosti https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 2023-07-11T10:25:19Z Marine low clouds are one of the greatest sources of uncertainty for climate projection. We present an observed climatology of cloud albedo susceptibility to cloud droplet number concentration perturbations (S 0 ) with changing sea surface temperature (SST) and estimated inversion strength for single-layer warm clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean, using eight years of satellite and reanalysis data. The key findings are that SST has a dominant control on S 0 in the presence of co-varying synoptic conditions and aerosol perturbations. Cloud brightening in regions with positive S 0 weakens with increasing local SST. Higher SST significantly hastens cloud-top evaporation with increasing aerosol loading, by accelerating entrainment and facilitating entrainment drying. In a global-warming-like scenario where aerosol loading is reduced, more cloud brightening is expected, mainly as a result of reduced entrainment drying. Furthermore, our results imply a less positive low-cloud liquid water path feedback in a warmer climate with decreasing aerosol loading. Other/Unknown Material North Atlantic SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) Geophysical Research Letters 48 24 |
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SciTec Connect (Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI, U.S. Department of Energy) |
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language |
unknown |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Zhou, Xiaoli Zhang, Jianhao Feingold, Graham On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
topic_facet |
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES |
description |
Marine low clouds are one of the greatest sources of uncertainty for climate projection. We present an observed climatology of cloud albedo susceptibility to cloud droplet number concentration perturbations (S 0 ) with changing sea surface temperature (SST) and estimated inversion strength for single-layer warm clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean, using eight years of satellite and reanalysis data. The key findings are that SST has a dominant control on S 0 in the presence of co-varying synoptic conditions and aerosol perturbations. Cloud brightening in regions with positive S 0 weakens with increasing local SST. Higher SST significantly hastens cloud-top evaporation with increasing aerosol loading, by accelerating entrainment and facilitating entrainment drying. In a global-warming-like scenario where aerosol loading is reduced, more cloud brightening is expected, mainly as a result of reduced entrainment drying. Furthermore, our results imply a less positive low-cloud liquid water path feedback in a warmer climate with decreasing aerosol loading. |
author |
Zhou, Xiaoli Zhang, Jianhao Feingold, Graham |
author_facet |
Zhou, Xiaoli Zhang, Jianhao Feingold, Graham |
author_sort |
Zhou, Xiaoli |
title |
On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
title_short |
On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
title_full |
On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
title_fullStr |
On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the Importance of Sea Surface Temperature for Aerosol–Induced Brightening of Marine Clouds and Implications for Cloud Feedback in a Future Warmer Climate |
title_sort |
on the importance of sea surface temperature for aerosol–induced brightening of marine clouds and implications for cloud feedback in a future warmer climate |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1961661 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1961661 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1961661 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1961661 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 doi:10.1029/2021gl095896 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl095896 |
container_title |
Geophysical Research Letters |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
24 |
_version_ |
1772817331349618688 |