Abstract
Atmospheric ionization produced by cosmic rays has been suspected to influence aerosols and clouds, but its actual importance has been questioned. If changes in atmospheric ionization have a substantial impact on clouds, one would expect to observe significant responses in Earth’s energy budget. Here it is shown that the average of the five strongest week-long decreases in atmospheric ionization coincides with changes in the average net radiative balance of 1.7 W/m2 (median value: 1.2 W/m2) using CERES satellite observations. Simultaneous satellite observations of clouds show that these variations are mainly caused by changes in the short-wave radiation of low liquid clouds along with small changes in the long-wave radiation, and are almost exclusively located over the pristine areas of the oceans. These observed radiation and cloud changes are consistent with a link in which atmospheric ionization modulates aerosol's formation and growth, which survive to cloud condensation nuclei and ultimately affect cloud formation and thereby temporarily the radiative balance of Earth.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 19668 |
| Journal | Scientific Reports |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 11 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:JS is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish council for independent research under the project “Fundamentals of Dark Matter Structures”, DFF-6108-00470, and thanks them both for their support. NJS wishes to thank the generous support of the Israel Ministry of Energy.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).