Time Series of Aerosol Column Optical Depth at the Barrow, Alaska, ARM Climate Research Facility for 2008 Fourth Quarter 2009 ARM and Climate Change Prediction Program Metric Report

• Main Authors: Flynn, C., Koontz, A. S., Mather, J. H.
• Other Authors: United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science and Technology.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (U.S.) 2009
• Subjects: Aerosols; Clouds; Absorption; Forecasting; Gases; Climatic Change; 54 Environmental Sciences; Radiations; Metrics; Arctic Regions; Scattering; Climates; Arctic; Barrow; Climate change; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2172/966790; https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc926600/

The uncertainties in current estimates of anthropogenic radiative forcing are dominated by the effects of aerosols, both in relation to the direct absorption and scattering of radiation by aerosols and also with respect to aerosol-related changes in cloud formation, longevity, and microphysics (See Figure 1; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Assessment Report 4, 2008). Moreover, the Arctic region in particular is especially sensitive to changes in climate with the magnitude of temperature changes (both observed and predicted) being several times larger than global averages (Kaufman et al. 2009). Recent studies confirm that aerosol-cloud interactions in the arctic generate climatologically significant radiative effects equivalent in magnitude to that of green house gases (Lubin and Vogelmann 2006, 2007). The aerosol optical depth is the most immediate representation of the aerosol direct effect and is also important for consideration of aerosol-cloud interactions, and thus this quantity is essential for studies of aerosol radiative forcing.