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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • solar brightening
  • surface radiative

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Radiation: transmission and scattering
  • Global Change: Climate variability
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Cloud/radiation interaction
  • Global Change: Impacts of global change
  • Atmospheric Processes: Clouds and aerosols

Abstract

Aerosol and cloud effects on solar brightening and the recent rapid warming

Christian Ruckstuhl

Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Rolf Philipona

Aerological Station, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Payerne, Switzerland

Klaus Behrens

Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg, Deutscher Wetterdienst, Lindenberg, Germany

Martine Collaud Coen

Aerological Station, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Payerne, Switzerland

Bruno Dürr

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Zurich, Switzerland

Alain Heimo

Aerological Station, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Payerne, Switzerland

Christian Mätzler

Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

Stephan Nyeki

Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland

Atsumu Ohmura

Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Laurent Vuilleumier

Aerological Station, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Payerne, Switzerland

Michael Weller

Meteorologisches Observatorium Lindenberg, Deutscher Wetterdienst, Lindenberg, Germany

Christoph Wehrli

Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos, World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland

Antoine Zelenka

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Zurich, Switzerland

The rapid temperature increase of 1°C over mainland Europe since 1980 is considerably larger than the temperature rise expected from anthropogenic greenhouse gas increases. Here we present aerosol optical depth measurements from six specific locations and surface irradiance measurements from a large number of radiation sites in Northern Germany and Switzerland. The measurements show a decline in aerosol concentration of up to 60%, which have led to a statistically significant increase of solar irradiance under cloud-free skies since the 1980s. The measurements confirm solar brightening and show that the direct aerosol effect had an approximately five times larger impact on climate forcing than the indirect aerosol and other cloud effects. The overall aerosol and cloud induced surface climate forcing is ∼+1 W m−2 dec−1 and has most probably strongly contributed to the recent rapid warming in Europe.

Received 9 April 2008; accepted 22 May 2008; published 24 June 2008.

Citation: Ruckstuhl, C., et al. (2008), Aerosol and cloud effects on solar brightening and the recent rapid warming, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L12708, doi:10.1029/2008GL034228.

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