Publication - Journal Article Constraining the instantaneous aerosol influence on cloud albedo

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 114, iss. 19, pp. 4899-4904, 2017

Edward Gryspeerdt, Johannes Quaas, Sylvaine Ferrachat, Andrew Gettelman, Steven Ghan, Ulrike Lohmann, Hugh Morrison, David Neubauer, Daniel G. Partridge, Philip Stier, Toshihiko Takemura, Hailong Wang, Minghuai Wang, Kai Zhang

Significance Uncertainties in the strength of aerosol–cloud interactions drive the current uncertainty in the anthropogenic forcing of the climate. Previous studies have highlighted shortcomings in using satellite data for determining the forcing, which underestimate the strength of the aerosol forcing. This work demonstrates that the component of the radiative forcing from aerosol–cloud interactions due to the instantaneous effect on cloud reflectivity (RFaci) can be calculated to within 20%, using only present-day observations of the variability of aerosol and cloud properties, provided the anthropogenic component of the aerosol is known. The model results are combined with satellite data to provide an improved observations-based estimate of the RFaci, paving the way for more accurate estimates of the aerosol influence on climate.