The Role of Mesoscale Cloud Morphology in the Shortwave Cloud Feedback

Abstract

This a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary.

Spatial Aggregation of Satellite Observations Leads to an Overestimation of the Radiative Forcing due to Aerosol‐Cloud Interactions

“…I. L. McCoy et al. (2022) have shown that environmentally driven transitions between Sc cloud morphologies coincide with variations in thin cloud features, which as shown here, control the magnitude of the bias in β . Future changes in the frequency of occurrence of Sc cloud morphologies could therefore influence the magnitude of RF aci .…”

“…Future changes in the frequency of occurrence of Sc cloud morphologies could therefore influence the magnitude of RF aci . Such changes could be attributed to various factors, including cloud feedbacks (I. L. McCoy et al., 2022), changes in cloud thickness resulting from rising CO 2 concentrations (Schneider et al., 2019), and changes in aerosol levels that can influence Sc transitions (Goren et al., 2019, 2022). Our results also show that for a given cloud albedo, β tends to be larger under more heterogeneous conditions.…”

“…However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have quantified the propagation of this bias in β to the bias in RF aci within the context of the common practice of spatial data aggregation. Moreover, with the growing recognition of the significance of cloud morphology in determining $$\overline{\mathrm{R}}$$ (I. L. McCoy et al., 2022), it is crucial to establish the dependence of β on cloud morphology, rather than on the generic term of cloud heterogeneity.…”

Impacts of Mesoscale Cloud Organization on Aerosol‐Induced Cloud Water Adjustment and Cloud Brightness

“…In terms of future climate, MCC morphology has been shown to have a nontrivial contribution (∼0.07 W m −2 K −1 ) to the shortwave cloud feedback, based on the environmental dependence of MCC morphology in the current climate (McCoy et al., 2022). This contribution may vary as aerosol indirect forcing changes in a future warmer world, yet the effect of anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol on MCC morphology remains poorly understood.…”