Abstract

Atmospheric aerosols counteract the warming effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases by an uncertain, but potentially large, amount. This in turn leads to large uncertainties in the sensitivity of climate to human perturbations, and therefore also in carbon cycle feedbacks and projections of climate change. In the future, aerosol cooling is expected to decline relative to greenhouse gas forcing, because of the aerosols' much shorter lifetime and the pursuit of a cleaner atmosphere. Strong aerosol cooling in the past and present would then imply that future global warming may proceed at or even above the upper extreme of the range projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, PO Box 3060, Mainz 55131, Germany
2. Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, Met Office, Fitzroy Road, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK
3. Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Winfrith, Dorset DT2 8ZD, UK

Correspondence to: Meinrat O. Andreae¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.O.A. (Email: andreae@mpch-mainz.mpg.de).

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