Absorption feedback in stratocumulus clouds Influence on cloud top albedo

Reinout Boers; Ross M. Mitchell

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v46i3.15476

Absorption feedback in stratocumulus clouds Influence on cloud top albedo

Tellus

Volume 46 (1994): Issue 3

By: Reinout Boers and Ross M. Mitchell

Open Access

|Jan 1994

Abstract

This paper proposes a feedback mechanism which modifies the enhancement of cloud top albedo expected from an increased concentration of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The mechanism is based on the thermodynamic tendency of the cloud to stabilize itself against changes in the absorption of solar radiation. For optically thin clouds, this absorption feedback leads to a reduction in the anticipated albedo enhancement, while for optically thick clouds, an amplification of the albedo enhancement is predicted. The likely impact of this effect on the radiative forcing of climate due to changes in CCN and hence cloud top albedo is discussed.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v46i3.15476 | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

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Language: English

Page range: 229 - 241

Submitted on: Sep 10, 1992

Accepted on: Sep 27, 1993

Published on: Jan 1, 1994

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 1994 Reinout Boers, Ross M. Mitchell, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 46 (1994): Issue 3