Abstract
Anthropogenic aerosols enhance cloud reflectivity by increasing the number concentration of cloud droplets, leading to a cooling effect on climate that is referred to as the Twomey effect1,2. Here we show that anthropogenic aerosols exert an additional effect on cloud properties that is derived from changes in the spectral shape of the size distribution of cloud droplets in polluted air and acts to diminish this cooling. This finding could help to improve our understanding of the indirect aerosol effect and its treatment in climate modelling.
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Liu, Y., Daum, P. Indirect warming effect from dispersion forcing. Nature 419, 580–581 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/419580a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/419580a
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