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  • Perspective
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Aerosols in current and future Arctic climate

Nature Climate Change volume 11, pages 95–105 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mechanisms of Arctic amplification and Arctic climate change are difficult to pinpoint, and current climate models do not represent the complex local processes and feedbacks at play, in particular for aerosol–climate interactions. This Perspective highlights the role of aerosols in contemporary Arctic climate change and stresses that the Arctic natural aerosol baseline is changing fast and its regional characteristics are very diverse. We argue that to improve understanding of present day and future Arctic, more detailed knowledge is needed on natural Arctic aerosol emissions, their evolution and transport, and the effects on cloud microphysics. In particular, observation and modelling work should focus on the sensitivity of aerosol–climate interactions to the rapidly evolving base state of the Arctic.

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Fig. 1: Aerosol processes during polar day and night.
Fig. 2: Regional characteristics of aerosol–climate interactions.

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Acknowledgements

J.S. is the Ingvar Kamprad Chair for Extreme Environment Research, sponsored by Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and acknowledges funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (projects 200021_188478 and 200021_169090). A.E. would like to acknowledge the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), DNR2015-05318 and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme, grant agreement no. 821205. P.Z. was supported by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet starting grant, project no. 2018-05045). P.Z. and A.E. also acknowledge support from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, project Arctic Climate Across Scales (ACAS, project no. 2016.0024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Julia Schmale

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Stockholm University and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm, Sweden

    Paul Zieger

  3. Department of Meteorology, Stockholm University and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm, Sweden

    Annica M. L. Ekman

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  1. Julia Schmale
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  2. Paul Zieger
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  3. Annica M. L. Ekman
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J.S. developed the idea for the Perspective. P.Z. and A.E. helped to elaborate the content. All authors contributed to writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Julia Schmale.

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Schmale, J., Zieger, P. & Ekman, A.M.L. Aerosols in current and future Arctic climate. Nat. Clim. Chang. 11, 95–105 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00969-5

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