Evidence for climate change in the satellite cloud record

Norris, Joel R.; Allen, Robert J.; Evan, Amato T.; Zelinka, Mark D.; O’Dell, C.; Klein, Stephen A.

doi:10.1038/nature18273

Cited by 310 publications

(309 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Globally, observed and simulated cloud change patterns at the global scale are consistent with the poleward retreat of mid-latitude storm tracks. This result is attributed to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations and recovery from volcanic radiative cooling [50]. In fact, the recent weakened rainfall and dried monsoon during the summer monsoon season were verified by many previous studies, given the reduction of clouds [49,51].…”

Section: Effects Of Cloudssupporting

confidence: 50%

Impacts of 3D Aerosol, Cloud, and Water Vapor Variations on the Recent Brightening during the South Asian Monsoon Season

et al. 2018

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South Asia is experiencing a levelling-off trend in solar radiation and even a transition from dimming to brightening. Any change in incident solar radiation, which is the only significant energy source of the global ecosystem, profoundly affects our habitats. Here, we use multiple observations of the A-Train constellation to evaluate the impacts of three-dimensional (3D) aerosol, cloud, and water vapor variations on the changes in surface solar radiation during the monsoon season (June-September) in South Asia from 2006 to 2015. Results show that surface shortwave radiation (SSR) has possibly increased by 16.2 W m −2 during this period. However, an increase in aerosol loading is inconsistent with the SSR variations. Instead, clouds are generally reduced and thinned by approximately 8.8% and 280 m, respectively, with a decrease in both cloud water path (by 34.7 g m −2 ) and particle number concentration under cloudy conditions. Consequently, the shortwave cloud radiative effect decreases by approximately 45.5 W m −2 at the surface. Moreover, precipitable water in clear-sky conditions decreases by 2.8 mm (mainly below 2 km), and related solar brightening increases by 2.5 W m −2 . Overall, the decreases in 3D water vapor and clouds distinctly result in increased absorption of SSR and subsequent surface brightening.

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Section: Effects Of Cloudssupporting

confidence: 50%

Impacts of 3D Aerosol, Cloud, and Water Vapor Variations on the Recent Brightening during the South Asian Monsoon Season

et al. 2018

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“…Cloud thermodynamic phase affects radiative forcing by modulating absorption of incoming solar radiation, particle evolution, and lifetime (Ehrlich et al, 2008;. Previous satellite observational studies have shown that clouds are shifting poleward in the northern and southern hemispheric extratropical storm tracks (Bender et al, 2012;Marvel et al, 2015;Norris et al, 2016). Within these shifting storm tracks, climate model experiments with forcing from increased CO 2 have shown losses of cloud ice phase and gains of cloud liquid phase McCoy et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global spectroscopic survey of cloud thermodynamic phase at high spatial resolution, 2005–2015

et al. 2018

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Abstract. The distribution of ice, liquid, and mixed phase clouds is important for Earth's planetary radiation budget, impacting cloud optical properties, evolution, and solar reflectivity. Most remote orbital thermodynamic phase measurements observe kilometer scales and are insensitive to mixed phases. This under-constrains important processes with outsize radiative forcing impact, such as spatial partitioning in mixed phase clouds. To date, the fine spatial structure of cloud phase has not been measured at global scales. Imaging spectroscopy of reflected solar energy from 1.4 to 1.8 µm can address this gap: it directly measures ice and water absorption, a robust indicator of cloud top thermodynamic phase, with spatial resolution of tens to hundreds of meters. We report the first such global high spatial resolution survey based on data from 2005 to 2015 acquired by the Hyperion imaging spectrometer onboard NASA's Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) spacecraft. Seasonal and latitudinal distributions corroborate observations by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). For extratropical cloud systems, just 25 % of variance observed at GCM grid scales of 100 km was related to irreducible measurement error, while 75 % was explained by spatial correlations possible at finer resolutions.

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“…These cloud types have been used to analyze the interannual cloud record collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (e.g., Zelinka and Hartmann, 2011;Zhou et al, 2013;Yue et al, 2017). Recently, Marvel et al (2015) and Norris et al (2016) analyzed data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x) data sets in terms of these cloud types to search for trends in LW CRE which would be associated with changes in cloud properties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The link between outgoing longwave radiation and the altitude at which a spaceborne lidar beam is fully attenuated

et al. 2017

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Abstract. According to climate model simulations, the changing altitude of middle and high clouds is the dominant contributor to the positive global mean longwave cloud feedback. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of this longwave cloud altitude feedback and its magnitude have not yet been verified by observations. Accurate, stable, and long-term observations of a metric-characterizing cloud vertical distribution that are related to the longwave cloud radiative effect are needed to achieve a better understanding of the mechanism of longwave cloud altitude feedback. This study shows that the direct measurement of the altitude of atmospheric lidar opacity is a good candidate for the necessary observational metric. The opacity altitude is the level at which a spaceborne lidar beam is fully attenuated when probing an opaque cloud. By combining this altitude with the direct lidar measurement of the cloud-top altitude, we derive the effective radiative temperature of opaque clouds which linearly drives (as we will show) the outgoing longwave radiation. We find that, for an opaque cloud, a cloud temperature change of 1 K modifies its cloud radiative effect by 2 W m −2 . Similarly, the longwave cloud radiative effect of optically thin clouds can be derived from their top and base altitudes and an estimate of their emissivity. We show with radiative transfer simulations that these relationships hold true at single atmospheric column scale, on the scale of the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instantaneous footprint, and at monthly mean 2 • × 2 • scale. Opaque clouds cover 35 % of the ice-free ocean and contribute to 73 % of the global mean cloud radiative effect. Thin-cloud coverage is 36 % and contributes 27 % of the global mean cloud radiative effect. The link between outgoing longwave radiation and the altitude at which a spaceborne lidar beam is fully attenuated provides a simple formulation of the cloud radiative effect in the longwave domain and so helps us to understand the longwave cloud altitude feedback mechanism.

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Evidence for climate change in the satellite cloud record

Cited by 310 publications

References 32 publications

Impacts of 3D Aerosol, Cloud, and Water Vapor Variations on the Recent Brightening during the South Asian Monsoon Season

Impacts of 3D Aerosol, Cloud, and Water Vapor Variations on the Recent Brightening during the South Asian Monsoon Season

Global spectroscopic survey of cloud thermodynamic phase at high spatial resolution, 2005–2015

The link between outgoing longwave radiation and the altitude at which a spaceborne lidar beam is fully attenuated

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