Characterizing and quantifying aerosol-cloud interactions are fundamental to improving future climate projections and assessing the viability of MCB. In this work, I developed a satellite-based, bottom-up framework for deriving cloud albedo susceptibility that controls for co-varying meteorological factors. This method revealed three distinct, physically-supported susceptibility regimes, their meteorological drivers, and their spatiotemporal variability across marine low-cloud regions.

[LEFT]Cloud albedo susceptibility (colored filled circles) in LWP–Nd space for the NE Pacific stratocumulus deck. Size of the filled circles indicates the relative frequency of occurrence. Three susceptibility regimes are identified: (i) precipitating–brightening (light green; positive susceptibility states with effective radii greater than 12µm), (ii) entrainment–darkening (brown; negative susceptibility states and right-hand side of the EEF isoline), and (iii) Twomey–brightening (dark green; non-precipitating states with positive susceptibilities) regimes. [RIGHT] Monthly mean albedo susceptibility, overlaid with monthly mean low-cloud frequency of occurrence and cloud droplet number concentration.

The findings stress the importance to consider the co-variability between cloud susceptibility and background aerosol condition in informing strategies for MCB. These findings and the framework are now widely recognized and adopted in the field.

  • J. Zhang and G. Feingold (2023): Distinct regional meteorological influences on low-cloud albedo susceptibility over global marine stratocumulus regions. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23(2), 1073–1090. doi:10.5194/acp-23-1073-2023

  • J. Zhang, X. Zhou, T. Goren, and G. Feingold (2022): Albedo susceptibility of northeastern Pacific stratocumulus: the role of covarying meteorological conditions. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22(2), 861–880. doi:10.5194/acp-22-861-2022

  • X. Zhou, J. Zhang, and G. Feingold (2021): On the importance of sea surface temperature for aerosol-induced brightening of marine clouds and implications for cloud feedback in a future warmer climate. Geophys. Res. Lett., 48(24), e2021GL095896. doi:10.1029/2021GL095896