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History of sulfate aerosol radiative forcings
Author(s) -
Boucher O.,
Pham M.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2001gl014048
Subject(s) - sulfate , radiative forcing , sulfate aerosol , radiative transfer , aerosol , climatology , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , sulfur , sulfur cycle , forcing (mathematics) , chemistry , meteorology , physics , geology , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
The history of the global sulfur cycle has been simulated using an emission inventory of SO 2 for 1990 and previously published historical trends in emission on a per country basis. The global‐ annual‐mean radiative forcings due to sulfate aerosols increase (in absolute values) from near‐zero and −0.17 Wm −2 up to −0.4 and −1 Wm −2 between 1850 and 1990, for the direct and indirect effects, respectively. The forcing efficiency (defined as the ratio of the radiative forcing to the anthropogenic sulfate burden) is fairly constant for the direct effect at −150 W(g sulfate) −1 but decreases significantly for the indirect effect with increasing sulfate burden. The model results are compared with long‐term observations for the period 1980 to 1998 in the U.S. and Europe.