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Evidence of strong aerosol cooling implies great efficacy of marine cloud brightening

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Evidence of strong aerosol cooling implies great efficacy of marine cloud brightening | Nature Geoscience

Aerosol–cloud interactions are the largest uncertainty in radiative forcing. We combined machine learning and long-term satellite observations to quantify aerosol fingerprints on tropical marine clouds, using degassing volcanic events in Hawaii as natural experiences, and found that cloud cover increased relatively by 50% in humid and stable atmosphere, leading to strong cooling radiative forcing.

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1.
Chen, Y. et al. Machine learning reveals climate forcing from aerosols is dominated by increased cloud cover. Nat. Geosci. 15, 609–614 (2022). A research article that pioneered the machine-learning approach for disentangling the fingerprints of aerosols on clouds.
2.
Ghan, S. et al. Challenges in constraining anthropogenic aerosol effects on cloud radiative forcing using present-day spatiotemporal variability. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 5804–5811 (2016). A research article that summarizes the challenges in constraining aerosol–cloud interactions in global climate models using traditional observational evidence.
3.
Andreae, M. O., Jones, C. D. & Cox, P. M. Strong present-day aerosol cooling implies a hot future. Nature 435, 1187–1190 (2005). A research article that highlights the importance of aerosol cooling in climate sensitivity and future warming.
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Hansen, J. E. et al. Global warming in the pipeline. Oxford Open Climate Change 3, kgad008 (2023). A review article that stresses the high possiblity of high climate sensitivity and the importance of aerosols in climate change.

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This is a summary of: Chen, Y. et al. Substantial cooling effect from aerosol-induced increase in tropical marine cloud cover. Nat. Geosci. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01427-z(2024).

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Evidence of strong aerosol cooling implies great efficacy of marine cloud brightening. Nat. Geosci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01428-y

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-024-01428-y