Aerosol-driven droplet concentrations dominate coverage and water of oceanic low-level clouds

Daniel Rosenfeld*, Yannian Zhu, Minghuai Wang, Youtong Zheng, Tom Goren, Shaocai Yu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

231 Scopus citations

Abstract

A lack of reliable estimates of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) aerosols over oceans has severely limited our ability to quantify their effects on cloud properties and extent of cooling by reflecting solar radiation—a key uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing. We introduce a methodology for ascribing cloud properties to CCN and isolating the aerosol effects from meteorological effects. Its application showed that for a given meteorology, CCN explains three-fourths of the variability in the radiative cooling effect of clouds, mainly through affecting shallow cloud cover and water path. This reveals a much greater sensitivity of cloud radiative forcing to CCN than previously reported, which means too much cooling if incorporated into present climate models. This suggests the existence of compensating aerosol warming effects yet to be discovered, possibly through deep clouds.

Original languageEnglish
Article number, eaav0566
JournalScience
Volume363
Issue number6427
DOIs
StatePublished - 8 Feb 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
2017 © The Authors.

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