TY - JOUR
T1 - Aerosol effects on cloud water amounts were successfully simulated by a global cloud-system resolving model
AU - Sato, Yousuke
AU - Goto, Daisuke
AU - Michibata, Takuro
AU - Suzuki, Kentaroh
AU - Takemura, Toshihiko
AU - Tomita, Hirofumi
AU - Nakajima, Teruyuki
N1 - Funding Information:
Part of the results are obtained by the K computer at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (Proposal number hp150156, hp160004, hp160231, hp170017, hp170232). Simulations of MIROC–SPRINTARS were executed with the SX-ACE supercomputer system of the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan. Aspects of this study were supported by the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (S-12) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency, by advancement of meteorological and global environmental predictions utilizing observational ‘Big Data’ of the social and scientific priority issues (Theme 4) to be tackled by using post K computer of the FLAGSHIP2020 Project, by Integrated Research Program for Advancing Climate Models of MEXT, and by the Collaborative Research Program of Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University. The first author was supported by RIKEN special postdoctoral researcher program, and the JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) (Grant number: 15K17766). K.S. is supported by NOAA’s Climate Program Office’s Modeling, Analysis, Predictions and Projections program with grant number NA15OAR4310153. T.T. is supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) (Grant Number: 15H01728).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Aerosols affect climate by modifying cloud properties through their role as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei, called aerosol-cloud interactions. In most global climate models (GCMs), the aerosol-cloud interactions are represented by empirical parameterisations, in which the mass of cloud liquid water (LWP) is assumed to increase monotonically with increasing aerosol loading. Recent satellite observations, however, have yielded contradictory results: LWP can decrease with increasing aerosol loading. This difference implies that GCMs overestimate the aerosol effect, but the reasons for the difference are not obvious. Here, we reproduce satellite-observed LWP responses using a global simulation with explicit representations of cloud microphysics, instead of the parameterisations. Our analyses reveal that the decrease in LWP originates from the response of evaporation and condensation processes to aerosol perturbations, which are not represented in GCMs. The explicit representation of cloud microphysics in global scale modelling reduces the uncertainty of climate prediction.
AB - Aerosols affect climate by modifying cloud properties through their role as cloud condensation nuclei or ice nuclei, called aerosol-cloud interactions. In most global climate models (GCMs), the aerosol-cloud interactions are represented by empirical parameterisations, in which the mass of cloud liquid water (LWP) is assumed to increase monotonically with increasing aerosol loading. Recent satellite observations, however, have yielded contradictory results: LWP can decrease with increasing aerosol loading. This difference implies that GCMs overestimate the aerosol effect, but the reasons for the difference are not obvious. Here, we reproduce satellite-observed LWP responses using a global simulation with explicit representations of cloud microphysics, instead of the parameterisations. Our analyses reveal that the decrease in LWP originates from the response of evaporation and condensation processes to aerosol perturbations, which are not represented in GCMs. The explicit representation of cloud microphysics in global scale modelling reduces the uncertainty of climate prediction.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-03379-6
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-03379-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 29515125
AN - SCOPUS:85046019562
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 9
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 985
ER -
