Opinion: Cloud-phase climate feedback and the importance of ice-nucleating particles
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Published:2021-01-18
Issue:2
Volume:21
Page:665-679
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ISSN:1680-7324
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Container-title:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Atmos. Chem. Phys.
Author:
Murray Benjamin J.ORCID, Carslaw Kenneth S.ORCID, Field Paul R.
Abstract
Abstract. Shallow clouds covering vast areas of the world's middle- and high-latitude oceans play a key role in dampening the global temperature
rise associated with CO2. These clouds, which contain both ice and
supercooled water, respond to a warming world by transitioning to a state
with more liquid water and a greater albedo, resulting in a negative
“cloud-phase” climate feedback component. Here we argue that the magnitude
of the negative cloud-phase feedback component depends on the amount and
nature of the small fraction of aerosol particles that can nucleate ice
crystals. We propose that a concerted research effort is required to reduce
substantial uncertainties related to the poorly understood
sources, concentration, seasonal cycles and nature of these ice-nucleating
particles (INPs) and their rudimentary treatment in climate models. The
topic is important because many climate models may have overestimated the
magnitude of the cloud-phase feedback, and those with better representation
of shallow oceanic clouds predict a substantially larger climate warming. We
make the case that understanding the present-day INP population in shallow
clouds in the cold sector of cyclone systems is particularly critical for
defining present-day cloud phase and therefore how the clouds respond to
warming. We also need to develop a predictive capability for future INP
emissions and sinks in a warmer world with less ice and snow and potentially
stronger INP sources.
Funder
European Research Council Horizon 2020 Natural Environment Research Council
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
Subject
Atmospheric Science
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