Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity

Laura Riuttanen; Marja Bister; Veli-Matti Kerminen; Viju O. John; Anu-Maija Sundstrom; Miikka Dal Maso; Jouni Räisänen; Victoria A. Sinclair; Risto Makkonen; Filippo Xausa; Gerrit de Leeuw; Markku Kulmala

doi:10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016

Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity

Laura Riuttanen, Marja Bister, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Viju O. John, Anu-Maija Sundstrom, Miikka Dal Maso, Jouni Räisänen, Victoria A. Sinclair, Risto Makkonen, Filippo Xausa, Gerrit de Leeuw, Markku Kulmala

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Abstract

Aerosol-cloud interactions are the largest source of uncertainty in the radiative forcing of the global climate. A phenomenon not included in the estimates of the total net forcing is the potential increase in upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) by anthropogenic aerosols via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 +/- 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause of this result, indicating relevance for the global climate. In tropical moist air such an UTH increase leads to a regional radiative effect of 0.5 +/- 0.4 W m(-2). We conclude that the effect of aerosols on UTH should be included in future studies of anthropogenic climate change and climate sensitivity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	14331-14342
Number of pages	12
Journal	Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Volume	16
Issue number	22
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016
Publication status	Published - 17 Nov 2016
Publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS
GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL
RADIATIVE-TRANSFER
OPTICAL DEPTH
REANALYSIS
SATELLITE
ALGORITHM
CLIMATE
SYSTEM

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UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016

acp-16-14331-2016
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Final published version, 1.47 MBLicence: CC BY

http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201612224909

Cite this

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title = "Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity",

abstract = "Aerosol-cloud interactions are the largest source of uncertainty in the radiative forcing of the global climate. A phenomenon not included in the estimates of the total net forcing is the potential increase in upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) by anthropogenic aerosols via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 +/- 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause of this result, indicating relevance for the global climate. In tropical moist air such an UTH increase leads to a regional radiative effect of 0.5 +/- 0.4 W m(-2). We conclude that the effect of aerosols on UTH should be included in future studies of anthropogenic climate change and climate sensitivity.",

keywords = "DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS, GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL, RADIATIVE-TRANSFER, OPTICAL DEPTH, REANALYSIS, SATELLITE, ALGORITHM, CLIMATE, SYSTEM",

author = "Laura Riuttanen and Marja Bister and Veli-Matti Kerminen and John, \{Viju O.\} and Anu-Maija Sundstrom and \{Dal Maso\}, Miikka and Jouni R{\"a}is{\"a}nen and Sinclair, \{Victoria A.\} and Risto Makkonen and Filippo Xausa and \{de Leeuw\}, Gerrit and Markku Kulmala",

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doi = "10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016",

language = "English",

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T1 - Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity

AU - Riuttanen, Laura

AU - Bister, Marja

AU - Kerminen, Veli-Matti

AU - John, Viju O.

AU - Sundstrom, Anu-Maija

AU - Dal Maso, Miikka

AU - Räisänen, Jouni

AU - Sinclair, Victoria A.

AU - Makkonen, Risto

AU - Xausa, Filippo

AU - de Leeuw, Gerrit

AU - Kulmala, Markku

PY - 2016/11/17

Y1 - 2016/11/17

N2 - Aerosol-cloud interactions are the largest source of uncertainty in the radiative forcing of the global climate. A phenomenon not included in the estimates of the total net forcing is the potential increase in upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) by anthropogenic aerosols via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 +/- 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause of this result, indicating relevance for the global climate. In tropical moist air such an UTH increase leads to a regional radiative effect of 0.5 +/- 0.4 W m(-2). We conclude that the effect of aerosols on UTH should be included in future studies of anthropogenic climate change and climate sensitivity.

AB - Aerosol-cloud interactions are the largest source of uncertainty in the radiative forcing of the global climate. A phenomenon not included in the estimates of the total net forcing is the potential increase in upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) by anthropogenic aerosols via changes in the microphysics of deep convection. Using remote sensing data over the ocean east of China in summer, we show that increased aerosol loads are associated with an UTH increase of 2.2 +/- 1.5 in units of relative humidity. We show that humidification of aerosols or other meteorological covariation is very unlikely to be the cause of this result, indicating relevance for the global climate. In tropical moist air such an UTH increase leads to a regional radiative effect of 0.5 +/- 0.4 W m(-2). We conclude that the effect of aerosols on UTH should be included in future studies of anthropogenic climate change and climate sensitivity.

KW - DEEP CONVECTIVE CLOUDS

KW - GENERAL-CIRCULATION MODEL

KW - RADIATIVE-TRANSFER

KW - OPTICAL DEPTH

KW - REANALYSIS

KW - SATELLITE

KW - ALGORITHM

KW - CLIMATE

KW - SYSTEM

U2 - 10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016

DO - 10.5194/acp-16-14331-2016

M3 - Article

SN - 1680-7316

VL - 16

SP - 14331

EP - 14342

JO - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

JF - Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

IS - 22

ER -

Observational evidence for aerosols increasing upper tropospheric humidity

Abstract

Keywords

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UN SDGs

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