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Acceleration by aerosol of a radiative‐thermodynamic cloud feedback influencing Arctic surface warming
Author(s) -
Garrett Timothy J.,
Maestas Melissa M.,
Krueger Steven K.,
Schmidt Clinton T.
Publication year - 2009
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 - 10.1029/2009gl040195
Subject(s) - longwave , environmental science , emissivity , atmospheric sciences , radiative cooling , aerosol , arctic , radiative transfer , cloud feedback , global warming , climatology , cloud condensation nuclei , climate model , meteorology , climate change , physics , geology , climate sensitivity , oceanography , quantum mechanics , optics
Recent work suggests that short‐lived pollutants with mid‐latitude origins are contributing to observed warming of the Arctic surface. Candidate mechanisms include an “aerosol indirect effect” associated with increases in cloud longwave emissivity: small cloud droplets associated with polluted conditions are efficient absorbers and emitters of longwave radiation. Here, we argue that the associated surface warming can be temporarily amplified: particulate pollution, by increasing cloud emissivity, additionally accelerates a pre‐existing positive feedback loop between cloud top radiative cooling and new droplet condensation.