CaltechAUTHORS
Published June 2022 | Version Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Scattering and absorbing aerosols in the climate system

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Peking University
  • 2. ROR icon Goddard Institute for Space Studies
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Institute of Atmospheric Physics
  • 5. ROR icon Columbia University
  • 6. ROR icon University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
  • 7. ROR icon Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology
  • 8. ROR icon Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
  • 9. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center
  • 10. ROR icon China Meteorological Administration
  • 11. ROR icon University of Lille
  • 12. ROR icon Nanjing University

Abstract

Tropospheric anthropogenic aerosols contribute the second-largest forcing to climate change, but with high uncertainty owing to their spatio-temporal variability and complicated optical properties. In this Review, we synthesize understanding of aerosol observations and their radiative and climate effects. Aerosols offset about one-third of the warming effect by anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Yet, in regions and seasons where the absorbing aerosol fraction is high — such as South America and East and South Asia — substantial atmospheric warming can occur. The internal mixing and the vertical distribution of aerosols, which alters both the direct effect and aerosol–cloud interactions, might further enhance this warming. Despite extensive research in aerosol–cloud interactions, there is still at least a 50% spread in total aerosol forcing estimates. This ongoing uncertainty is linked, in part, to the poor measurement of anthropogenic and natural aerosol absorption, as well as the little-understood effects of aerosols on clouds. Next-generation, space-borne, multi-angle polarization and active remote sensing, combined with in situ observations, offer opportunities to better constrain aerosol scattering, absorption and size distribution, thus, improving models to refine estimates of aerosol forcing and climate effects.

Additional Information

© Springer Nature Limited 2022. Accepted 08 April 2022; Published 24 May 2022. J.L., L.Z. and Y.D. acknowledge funding from National Natural Science Foundation of China grant nos. 41975023 and 42175144. O.D. appreciates support from the Chemical and Physical Properties of the Atmosphere Project funded by the French National Research Agency through the Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir under contract ANR-11-LABX-0005-01, the Regional Council "Hauts-de-France", and the European Funds for Regional Economic Development. Data availability: Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) data used in Figs 1,3 are from the Earth System Grid Federation, available at https://esgf-node.llnl.gov/projects/cmip6. AOD and SSA data used in Fig. 1 are from Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET), available at https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Contributions: J.L., B.E.C., A.A.L. and Y.L.Y. led the Review. J.L. wrote the initial draft and prepared Fig. 2, Box 1 and Supplementary Fig. 1. L.Z. prepared Fig. 1, Fig. 4 and Supplementary Figs 2, 3. Y.D. prepared Fig. 3 and Table 1. All authors contributed to the manuscript preparation, interpretation, discussion and writing. The authors declare no competing interests. Peer review information: Nature Reviews Earth & Environment thanks Fangqun Yu, Otto Hasekamp and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Attached Files

Supplemental Material - 43017_2022_296_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Files

43017_2022_296_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Files (1.6 MB)

Name Size
md5:5c21e7d2aeefae6b6e2fd8b77a6999a0
1.6 MB Preview Download

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
115100
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220609-491860700

Related works

Describes
https://esgf-node.llnl.gov/projects/cmip6 (URL)
https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (URL)

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China
41975023
National Natural Science Foundation of China
42175144
Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (ANR)
ANR-11-LABX-0005-01
Regional Council "Hauts-de-France"
European Funds for Regional Economic Development

Dates

Created
2022-06-10
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2022-06-17
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)