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Reducing the aerosol forcing uncertainty using observational constraints on warm rain processes

Abstract:
Global climate models (GCMs) disagree with other lines of evidence on the rapid adjustments of cloud cover and liquid water path to anthropogenic aerosols. Attempts to use observations to constrain the parameterizations of cloud processes in GCMs have failed to reduce the disagreement. We propose using observations sensitive to the relevant cloud processes rather than only to the atmospheric state and focusing on process realism in the absence of aerosol perturbations in addition to the process susceptibility to aerosols. We show that process-sensitive observations of precipitation can reduce the uncertainty on GCM estimates of rapid cloud adjustments to aerosols. The feasibility of an observational constraint depends on understanding the precipitation intensity spectrum in both observations and models and also on improving methods to compare the two.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1126/sciadv.aaz6433

Authors


Publisher:
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Journal:
Science Advances More from this journal
Volume:
6
Issue:
22
Article number:
eaaz6433
Publication date:
2020-05-29
Acceptance date:
2020-03-30
DOI:
EISSN:
2375-2548


Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
1092404
Local pid:
pubs:1092404
Deposit date:
2020-06-02
ARK identifier:

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