NOAA Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
"Aerosol Influences on Climate"
Aerosol particles influence climate both directly, by scattering and
absorbing radiation, and indirectly, by modifying the microphysical
properties of clouds. International assessments (IPCC) repeatedly
assign the greatest uncertainties in predictions of radiative forcing of
climate change to aerosols. Current estimates of aerosol climate
forcings are based on global distributions of various aerosol components
(e.g., sulfates, dust, organic and elemental carbon) calculated using
three-dimensional chemical transport models, with parameterizations for
aerosol radiative and cloud-nucleating properties. This talk will focus
on the observations that form the basis for these parameterizations, and
describe the approaches that are being used to quantify their
uncertainties.