Cloud condensation nucleus control alter cloud solar albedo through cloud droplet size.
Here, we leverage anthropogenic emissions at the North Slope of Alaska as a natural laboratory to
study relationships between aerosols and Arctic liquid-containing clouds. Averaging 14 years of MODIS
observations, we found a reduction in temporally averaged cloud effective radius ( er ) of up to 1.0 μm
related to localized pollution. Pronounced regional gradients in cloud frequency of occurrence and liquid
water path prohibit the detection of potential changes of these variables. Observed changes of er alter
radiative fluxes and increase cloud-reflected shortwave radiation by up to 0.8 W m−2 in the Prudhoe
Bay area for the period covered by observations (April–September). Due to the frequent occurrence of
liquid-containing clouds, this implies that enhanced local emissions in Arctic regions can impact climate
processes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:82036 |
| Date | 09 November 2022 |
| Creators | Maahn, Maximilian, Goren, Tom, Shupe, Matthew D., Boer, Gijs de |
| Publisher | Wiley, American Geophysical Union |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 10.1029/2021GL094307 |
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