Climate response to tropospheric absorbing aerosols in an intermediate general‐circulation model

Abstract

AbstractThis study uses idealized aerosol distributions with the Reading Intermediate General‐Circulation Model (IGCM) to assess and explain the climate response in that model to absorbing tropospheric aerosol. We find that the sign of the direct aerosol radiative forcing is not a good indication of the sign of the resulting global and annual mean surface temperature change. The climate sensitivity parameter for aerosols which absorb some solar radiation is much larger than that for CO2or solar experiments with the same model.Reasons for the enhanced surface temperature response in the presence of aerosol are examined. Significant changes in cloud amount occur, some of which appear most influenced by the change in surface temperature and may be generic to any mechanism that warms the surface. A reduction in low cloud amount occurs when the aerosol single‐scattering albedo is less than 0.95; the so‐called ‘semi‐direct’ effect of aerosols is clearly evident in this model. We suggest that this aerosol–cloud feedback is present in all GCMs which include absorbing tropospheric aerosol but remains largely undiagnosed. Comparisons with a previous study and further sensitivity tests suggest that the magnitude of this effect and the mechanisms behind it are strongly dependent on the cloud scheme employed. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society