On the characteristics of aerosol indirect effect based on dynamic regimes in global climate models
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Aerosol–cloud interactions continue to constitute a major source of uncertainty for the estimate of climate radiative forcing. The variation of aerosol indirect effects (AIE) in climate models is investigated across different dynamical regimes, determined by monthly mean 500 hPa vertical pressure velocity ( ω 500 ), lower-tropospheric stability (LTS) and large-scale surface precipitation rate derived from several global climate models (GCMs), with a focus on liquid water path (LWP) response to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations. The LWP sensitivity to aerosol perturbation within dynamic regimes is found to exhibit a large spread among these GCMs. It is in regimes of strong large-scale ascent ( ω 500 < −25 hPa day −1 ) and low clouds (stratocumulus and trade wind cumulus) where the models differ most. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing is also found to differ significantly among different regimes. Shortwave aerosol indirect forcing in ascending regimes is close to that in subsidence regimes, which indicates that regimes with strong large-scale ascent are as important as stratocumulus regimes in studying AIE. It is further shown that shortwave aerosol indirect forcing over regions with high monthly large-scale surface precipitation rate (> 0.1 mm day −1 ) contributes the most to the total aerosol indirect forcing (from 64 to nearly 100 %). Results show that the uncertainty in AIE is even larger within specific dynamical regimes compared to the uncertainty in its global mean values, pointing to the need to reduce the uncertainty in AIE in different dynamical regimes.
Institutions: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change, Nanjing University, ETH Zurich, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Kyushu University, Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Duke University, Stockholm University, University of Oxford, Bolin Centre for Climate Research
Language: English
Subfield: Global and Planetary Change
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,725
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, Battelle, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK Government, University of Oxford, European Commission, Met Office, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Austrian Science Fund, Government of Jiangsu Province, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Forschungszentrum Jülich, Centro Svizzero di Calcolo Scientifico, National Supercomputing Centre Singapore, Office of Science, Natural Environment Research Council, Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, Biological and Environmental Research, Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Awards: G1143625328, Improved representation of marine stratocumuli in GCMs, G1258918536, G185048375, G1947995952, G3163398284, G3207356259, G326497735, G3594449226, G359586391, G393177772, G405563145, G4738473845, G5324585312, G5366658414, G5702163051, G6412048503, Aerosol-Cloud Interactions - A Directed Programme to Reduce Uncertainty in Forcing (ACID-PRUF) through a Targeted Laboratory and Modelling Programme, G6496241444, Hadley Centre Climate Prediction Programme, G7003971911, G7269881523, G8333603395, G850182582, G953890220, G957704233
OpenAlex ID: W1948989487