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Aerosol effects on clouds are concealed by natural cloud heterogeneity and satellite retrieval errors

Author

Listed:
  • Antti Arola

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute)

  • Antti Lipponen

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute)

  • Pekka Kolmonen

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute)

  • Timo H. Virtanen

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute)

  • Nicolas Bellouin

    (University of Reading)

  • Daniel P. Grosvenor

    (University of Leeds)

  • Edward Gryspeerdt

    (Imperial College London)

  • Johannes Quaas

    (Leipzig University)

  • Harri Kokkola

    (Finnish Meteorological Institute)

Abstract

One major source of uncertainty in the cloud-mediated aerosol forcing arises from the magnitude of the cloud liquid water path (LWP) adjustment to aerosol-cloud interactions, which is poorly constrained by observations. Many of the recent satellite-based studies have observed a decreasing LWP as a function of cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) as the dominating behavior. Estimating the LWP response to the CDNC changes is a complex task since various confounding factors need to be isolated. However, an important aspect has not been sufficiently considered: the propagation of natural spatial variability and errors in satellite retrievals of cloud optical depth and cloud effective radius to estimates of CDNC and LWP. Here we use satellite and simulated measurements to demonstrate that, because of this propagation, even a positive LWP adjustment is likely to be misinterpreted as negative. This biasing effect therefore leads to an underestimate of the aerosol-cloud-climate cooling and must be properly considered in future studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Antti Arola & Antti Lipponen & Pekka Kolmonen & Timo H. Virtanen & Nicolas Bellouin & Daniel P. Grosvenor & Edward Gryspeerdt & Johannes Quaas & Harri Kokkola, 2022. "Aerosol effects on clouds are concealed by natural cloud heterogeneity and satellite retrieval errors," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34948-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34948-5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew S. Ackerman & Michael P. Kirkpatrick & David E. Stevens & Owen B. Toon, 2004. "The impact of humidity above stratiform clouds on indirect aerosol climate forcing," Nature, Nature, vol. 432(7020), pages 1014-1017, December.
    2. Florent F. Malavelle & Jim M. Haywood & Andy Jones & Andrew Gettelman & Lieven Clarisse & Sophie Bauduin & Richard P. Allan & Inger Helene H. Karset & Jón Egill Kristjánsson & Lazaros Oreopoulos & Nay, 2017. "Erratum: Strong constraints on aerosol–cloud interactions from volcanic eruptions," Nature, Nature, vol. 551(7679), pages 256-256, November.
    3. Velle Toll & Matthew Christensen & Johannes Quaas & Nicolas Bellouin, 2019. "Weak average liquid-cloud-water response to anthropogenic aerosols," Nature, Nature, vol. 572(7767), pages 51-55, August.
    4. Po-Lun Ma & Philip J. Rasch & Hélène Chepfer & David M. Winker & Steven J. Ghan, 2018. "Observational constraint on cloud susceptibility weakened by aerosol retrieval limitations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Florent F. Malavelle & Jim M. Haywood & Andy Jones & Andrew Gettelman & Lieven Clarisse & Sophie Bauduin & Richard P. Allan & Inger Helene H. Karset & Jón Egill Kristjánsson & Lazaros Oreopoulos & Nay, 2017. "Strong constraints on aerosol–cloud interactions from volcanic eruptions," Nature, Nature, vol. 546(7659), pages 485-491, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sara M. Blichner & Taina Yli-Juuti & Tero Mielonen & Christopher Pöhlker & Eemeli Holopainen & Liine Heikkinen & Claudia Mohr & Paulo Artaxo & Samara Carbone & Bruno Backes Meller & Cléo Quaresma Dias, 2024. "Process-evaluation of forest aerosol-cloud-climate feedback shows clear evidence from observations and large uncertainty in models," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

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