IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/climat/v139y2016i2d10.1007_s10584-016-1772-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The transformation of Arctic clouds with warming

Author

Listed:
  • J. K. Ridley

    (Met Office)

  • M. A. Ringer

    (Met Office)

  • R. M. Sheward

    (Met Office
    Goethe University Frankfurt)

Abstract

The progressive loss of Arctic sea ice leads to increased surface emissions of Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS), which is the dominant local source of sulphate aerosols. We test the hypothesis that cloud condensation nuclei, derived from DMS, will increase cloud-top albedo in an earth-system global climate model. The earth-system model includes fully interactive ocean biology, DMS, atmospheric chemistry, aerosols and cloud microphysics. In an idealised warming scenario, the Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer when atmospheric CO2 is increased by 1 % per year to four times the pre-industrial concentrations. The summer boundary layer near-surface inversion strengthens, increasing stratification with warming, whilst the autumn inversion weakens. We find that the dominant change in cloud albedo arises from the conversion of summer clouds from ice to liquid, reducing the solar flux at the surface by 27 W m−2. Only 1–2 W m−2 of the reduced solar flux is attributed to cloud condensation nuclei associated with sulphate aerosols derived from the 2–5 fold increase in DMS emissions that results from an ice-free ocean. We conclude that aerosol-cloud feedbacks originating from DMS production in the Arctic region are largely mitigated through increased wet deposition of sulphate aerosols by rainfall and as a result are not a significant component of changes in the surface radiation budget in our model.

Suggested Citation

  • J. K. Ridley & M. A. Ringer & R. M. Sheward, 2016. "The transformation of Arctic clouds with warming," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 325-337, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:139:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1772-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10584-016-1772-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10584-016-1772-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10584-016-1772-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. P. K. Quinn & T. S. Bates, 2011. "The case against climate regulation via oceanic phytoplankton sulphur emissions," Nature, Nature, vol. 480(7375), pages 51-56, December.
    2. W. Sunda & D. J. Kieber & R. P. Kiene & S. Huntsman, 2002. "An antioxidant function for DMSP and DMS in marine algae," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6895), pages 317-320, July.
    3. Joyce E. Penner, 2004. "The cloud conundrum," Nature, Nature, vol. 432(7020), pages 962-963, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ming Peng & Chun-Yang Li & Xiu-Lan Chen & Beth T. Williams & Kang Li & Ya-Nan Gao & Peng Wang & Ning Wang & Chao Gao & Shan Zhang & Marie C. Schoelmerich & Jillian F. Banfield & J. Benjamin Miller & N, 2022. "Insights into methionine S-methylation in diverse organisms," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    2. Rocky D. Payet & Lorelei J. Bilham & Shah Md Tamim Kabir & Serena Monaco & Ash R. Norcott & Mellieha G. E. Allen & Xiao-Yu Zhu & Anthony J. Davy & Charles A. Brearley & Jonathan D. Todd & J. Benjamin , 2024. "Elucidation of Spartina dimethylsulfoniopropionate synthesis genes enables engineering of stress tolerant plants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Pearce, Joshua M. & Johnson, Sara J. & Grant, Gabriel B., 2007. "3D-mapping optimization of embodied energy of transportation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 435-453.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:climat:v:139:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10584-016-1772-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.