Contrasting the direct radiative effect and direct radiative forcing of aerosols
Name
Heald-2014-Contrasting the dire.pdf
Size
1.92 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
a2cdc57536cce0aa4ed5da31d6a3dcb2
Author(s)
Heald, Colette L.
Ridley, David Andrew
Kroll, Jesse
Barrett, Steven R. H.
Cady-Pereira, K. E.
Alvarado, Matthew James
Holmes, C. D.
Date Issued
June 2014
Journal
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH on behalf of the European Geosciences Union
Citation
Heald, C. L., D. A. Ridley, J. H. Kroll, S. R. H. Barrett, K. E. Cady-Pereira, M. J. Alvarado, and C. D. Holmes. “Contrasting the Direct Radiative Effect and Direct Radiative Forcing of Aerosols.” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 14, no. 11 (2014): 5513–5527.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosols, which is the instantaneous radiative impact of all atmospheric particles on the Earth's energy balance, is sometimes confused with the direct radiative forcing (DRF), which is the change in DRE from pre-industrial to present-day (not including climate feedbacks). In this study we couple a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) with a radiative transfer model (RRTMG) to contrast these concepts. We estimate a global mean all-sky aerosol DRF of −0.36 Wm[superscript −2] and a DRE of −1.83 Wm[superscript −2] for 2010. Therefore, natural sources of aerosol (here including fire) affect the global energy balance over four times more than do present-day anthropogenic aerosols. If global anthropogenic emissions of aerosols and their precursors continue to decline as projected in recent scenarios due to effective pollution emission controls, the DRF will shrink (−0.22 Wm[superscript −2] for 2100). Secondary metrics, like DRE, that quantify temporal changes in both natural and anthropogenic aerosol burdens are therefore needed to quantify the total effect of aerosols on climate.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5513-2014
