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Large differences in tropical aerosol forcing at the top of the atmosphere and Earth's surface

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  • S. K. Satheesh

    (Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate (C4), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego)

  • V. Ramanathan

    (Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate (C4), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego)

Abstract

The effect of radiative forcing by anthropogenic aerosols is one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate predictions1,2,3,4,5,6. Direct observations of the forcing are therefore needed, particularly for the poorly understood tropical aerosols. Here we present an observational method for quantifying aerosol forcing to within ±5 per cent. We use calibrated satellite radiation measurements and five independent surface radiometers to quantify the aerosol forcing simultaneously at the Earth's surface and the top of the atmosphere over the tropical northern Indian Ocean. In winter, this region is covered by anthropogenic aerosols of sulphate, nitrate, organics, soot and fly ash from the south Asian continent7,8. Accordingly, mean clear-sky solar radiative heating for the winters of 1998 and 1999 decreased at the ocean surface by 12 to 30 W m-2, but only by 4 to 10 W m-2 at the top of the atmosphere. This threefold difference (due largely to solar absorption by soot) and the large magnitude of the observed surface forcing both imply that tropical aerosols might slow down the hydrological cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • S. K. Satheesh & V. Ramanathan, 2000. "Large differences in tropical aerosol forcing at the top of the atmosphere and Earth's surface," Nature, Nature, vol. 405(6782), pages 60-63, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:405:y:2000:i:6782:d:10.1038_35011039
    DOI: 10.1038/35011039
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    Cited by:

    1. Nishi Srivastava, 2020. "Association of modeled PM2.5 with aerosol optical depth: model versus satellite," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 102(2), pages 689-705, June.
    2. Khalil, Samy A. & Shaffie, A.M., 2016. "Attenuation of the solar energy by aerosol particles: A review and case study," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 363-375.

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