Opposing comparable large effects of fine aerosols and coarse sea spray on marine warm clouds

Abstract

Fine aerosols, by acting as cloud condensation nuclei, suppress rainfall and enhance the albedo and coverage of marine warm clouds, thereby partly counteracting the greenhouse-induced warming. While this is relatively well documented, the co-existing opposite effects of giant cloud condensation nuclei from coarse sea spray aerosols are poorly quantified. Here, satellite measurements show that the effects of coarse sea spray aerosols have comparable magnitudes with opposite sign to those of fine aerosols. For fixed cloud liquid water path and coarse sea spray aerosols, increasing fine aerosols decreased rainfall flux and cloud drop effective radius by a factor of 1/4 and 40%, respectively. Conversely, for fixed fine aerosols and cloud liquid water path, added coarse sea spray aerosols enhanced rainfall flux and cloud drop effective radius by a factor of 4 and 35%, respectively. These large and contrasting effects are independent on meteorological conditions. These processes must be fully incorporated into climate models to faithfully represent aerosol effects on clouds, precipitation, and radiative forcing.