Background tropospheric aerosols: Incorporation within a statistical‐dynamical climate model

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Abstract

<jats:p>To evaluate the possible influence of natural background tropospheric aerosols upon the earth's present climate, we have incorporated aerosol radiation models for continental and maritime aerosols into the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory statistical‐dynamical climate model. The model results suggest that background tropospheric aerosols produce 3°–4°C global surface cooling, with maximum cooling occurring at high latitudes, results which are essentially consistent with an energy balance climate model study by Coakley et al. (1983). To specifically delineate effects caused directly by the aerosols, as opposed to indirect effects resulting from aerosol‐induced climate change, a second climate perturbation was considered that consisted of reducing the solar constant so as to give exactly the same initial reduction in surface‐atmosphere solar absorption as for the inclusion of tropospheric aerosols. These separate climate perturbations produced nearly identical climate feedback effects, together with similar changes in atmospheric stability and hydrological cycle, despite the fact that the two perturbations have quite different latitudinal and vertical distributions. This finding is consistent with a general circulation model study by Manabe and Wetherald (1980) concerning perturbations of both atmospheric CO<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> and the solar constant. A related conclusion is that the model's climate response to tropospheric aerosols is insensitive to the manner in which the aerosols are vertically distributed.</jats:p>

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