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Climate forcing by stratospheric aerosols
Author(s) -
Lacis Andrew,
Hansen James,
Sato Makiko
Publication year - 1992
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 - 10.1029/92gl01620
Subject(s) - aerosol , forcing (mathematics) , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , albedo (alchemy) , radiative forcing , climate model , climatology , meteorology , climate change , physics , geology , oceanography , art , performance art , art history
We illustrate how climate forcing by stratospheric aerosols depends on aerosol properties. The climate forcing is a function of aerosol size distribution, but the size dependence can be described well by a single parameter: the area‐weighted mean radius, r eff .If r eff is greater than about 2 μm, the global average greenhouse effect of the aerosols exceeds the albedo effect, causing a surface heating. The aerosol climate forcing is less sensitive to other characteristics of the size distribution, the aerosol composition, and the altitude of the aerosols. Thus stratospheric aerosol forcing can be defined accurately from measurements of aerosol, extinction over a broad wavelength range.