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Journal ArticleDOI

Aerosols, cloud microphysics, and fractional cloudiness.

Bruce A. Albrecht
- 15 Sep 1989 - 
- Vol. 245, Iss: 4923, pp 1227-1230
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TLDR
Increases in aerosol concentrations over the oceans may increase the amount of low-level cloudiness through a reduction in drizzle—a process that regulates the liquid-water content and the energetics of shallow marine clouds—to contribute to a cooling of the earth's surface.
Abstract
Increases in aerosol concentrations over the oceans may increase the amount of low-level cloudiness through a reduction in drizzle—a process that regulates the liquid-water content and the energetics of shallow marine clouds. The resulting increase in the global albedo would be in addition to the increase due to enhancement in reflectivity associated with a decrease in droplet size and would contribute to a cooling of the earth9s surface.

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Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity

TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a new approach to global sustainability in which they define planetary boundaries within which they expect that humanity can operate safely. But the proposed concept of "planetary boundaries" lays the groundwork for shifting our approach to governance and management, away from the essentially sectoral analyses of limits to growth aimed at minimizing negative externalities, toward the estimation of the safe space for human development.
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Climate Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosols

TL;DR: The aerosol forcing has likely offset global greenhouse warming to a substantial degree, however, differences in geographical and seasonal distributions of these forcings preclude any simple compensation.
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Organic aerosol and global climate modelling: a review

TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed existing knowledge with regard to organic aerosol (OA) of importance for global climate modelling and defined critical gaps needed to reduce the involved uncertainties, and synthesized the information to provide a continuous analysis of the flow from the emitted material to the atmosphere up to the point of the climate impact of the produced organic aerosols.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Oceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate

TL;DR: The major source of cloud-condensation nuclei (CCN) over the oceans appears to be dimethylsulphide, which is produced by planktonic algae in sea water and oxidizes in the atmosphere to form a sulphate aerosol as mentioned in this paper.
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Models of cloud-topped mixed layers under a strong inversion

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors constructed a model to relate, explain and predict features of a radiatively active turbulent cloud layer over the sea and under a strong subsidence inversion.
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An assessment of the impact of pollution on global cloud albedo

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors studied the effect of pollution on global climate and found that the climate effect is comparable to that of increased carbon dioxide, and acts in the opposite direction, in that increasing absorption also attends increasing pollution.
Journal ArticleDOI

The dynamics of stratocumulus: Aircraft observations and comparisons with a mixed layer model

TL;DR: In this article, a detailed case study of day-time stratocumulus over the North Sea using an instrumented aircraft is presented, where measurements include turbulence fluctuation data, radiation fluxes and droplet spectra and were made both in and out of cloud.
Journal ArticleDOI

Effect of ship-stack effluents on cloud reflectivity.

TL;DR: The effect of aerosols on cloud reflectivity is expected to have a larger influence on the earth's albedo than that due to the direct scattering and absorption of sunlight by the aerosols alone.
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