Can an influence of changing aerosol emissions be detected in thepattern of surface temperature change between 1970 and 2000?

• The general circulation model CAM-Oslo was used to examine the influence of varyingaerosol and greenhouse gas emissions on the pattern of surface temperature change betweenthe years 1970 and 2000, and whether the temperature response over different regions wasgoverned by local (due to changes in energy fluxes) or far-field (due to changes in large-scale circulation) processes. Circulation changes, originating from precipitation anomaliesmainly over the west/central Pacific and off the east coast of North America, influenced asubstantial part of the northern hemisphere temperature change pattern in CAM-Oslo, inparticular over southern North America, but also over Europe and Asia. The result highlightsthe importance of better understanding zonally asymmetric precipitation changes due todifferent forcing agents. A local response in surface temperature due to net surface radiativeflux (RF) anomalies could also be detected over Europe and Asia, where the differencein all-sky net surface RF was mainly driven by aerosol- or circulation-induced changes inliquid water path and cloud cover. A local anthropogenic aerosol effect on the cloud dropletsize and subsequent short-wave (SW) RF was found over Europe and Asia, but only whenexcluding a change in the greenhouse gas concentration. For clear skies, the SW RF patternwas well-correlated with the aerosol optical depth anomalies. However, this correlation wasat least partly governed by relative humidity fluctuations. Overall, the greenhouse andaerosol effects on surface temperature were in the simulations found to be non-linear with asignificant feedback on the aerosol population from a warming climate.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

atmosfärvetenskap och oceanografi

Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)