image: Clouds over the Southern Ocean due south of Tasmania, Australia. view more
Credit: Image credit: Isabel L. McCoy.
A study uses the contrast in satellite measurements of cloud droplet number concentration between the atmosphere over the Northern Hemisphere, polluted with industrial aerosols, and over the Southern Ocean, assumed to be pristine and representative of preindustrial aerosol concentrations, to constrain the possible changes in Earth's albedo since 1850 due to industrial aerosols; the results suggest that climate models underestimate preindustrial aerosol and cloud droplet concentrations, according to the authors.
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Article #19-22502: "The hemispheric contrast in cloud microphysical properties constrains aerosol forcing," by Isabel L. McCoy et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Isabel L. McCoy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; e-mail: <imccoy@uw.edu>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences