Constraining the total aerosol indirect effect in the LMDZ and ECHAM4 GCMs using MODIS satellite data

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Date
2006Type
- Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
Aerosol indirect effects are considered to be the most uncertain yet important anthropogenic forcing of climate change. The goal of the present study is to reduce this uncertainty by constraining two different general circulation models (LMDZ and ECHAM4) with satellite data. We build a statistical relationship between cloud droplet number concentration and the optical depth of the fine aerosol mode as a measure of the aerosol indirect effect using MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data, and constrain the model parameterizations to match this relationship. We include here "empirical" formulations for the cloud albedo effect as well as parameterizations of the cloud lifetime effect. When fitting the model parameterizations to the satellite data, consistently in both models, the radiative forcing by the combined aerosol indirect effect is reduced considerably, down to −0.5 and −0.3 Wm−2, for LMDZ and ECHAM4, respectively. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000024261Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Atmospheric Chemistry and PhysicsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Copernicus PublicationsOrganisational unit
03690 - Lohmann, Ulrike / Lohmann, Ulrike
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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