CFCs and other halocarbons have long been known for causing an ozone hole over the Antarctic, but many of them are also powerful greenhouse gases.
Radiative processes
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Lightning Discharge Type Linked to Terrestrial Gamma‐Ray Flashes
For the first time, the connection between energetic in cloud pulse and terrestrial gamma‐ray flashes is confirmed in the Gamma-Ray Observation of Winter Thunderclouds experiment in Japan.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Overlooked Role of Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Volcanoes
Volcanoes can warm as much as they cool. Prior simulations have neglected the important warming effects of sulfur dioxide emissions, making some results colder than they should be.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
How Does Climate Respond to Different Forcings?
Global temperature responds in the same way to carbon dioxide as it does to methane or aerosol changes if the concept of effective radiative forcing is used to quantify the forcing strength.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Better Way to Measure Cloud Composition
An enhanced satellite remote sensing suite accurately measures ice particles, temperature, and water vapor.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
3D Radiation-Topography Interaction Warms Up Tibetan Plateau
3-D radiation-topography interaction, which can increase the sunlight absorption by the surface, is missing in all climate models, causing strong cold biases over the Tibetan Plateau.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Thermosphere Responds to a Weaker Than Normal Solar Cycle
Infrared emissions from nitric oxide and carbon dioxide in Earth’s upper atmosphere, which are closely tied to incoming solar radiation, are drastically lower than in the previous solar cycle.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Improving Retrievals for Vertically Inhomogeneous Warm Clouds
Cloud droplet size changes with height, but passive sensors are virtually blind to see it; however, combining passive with active sensors helps profile it in vertically inhomogeneous warm clouds.
Posted inScience Updates
Great American Eclipse Data May Fine-Tune Weather Forecasts
Measurements taken by an automated national meteorological monitoring network during the 2017 total solar eclipse illuminate how the land and atmosphere respond to a sudden loss of sunlight.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Spectral Surface Emissivity Improves Arctic Climate Simulation
Improving the representation of surface emissivity in the Community Earth System Model reduces its Arctic winter cold bias from 7 to 1 Kelvin degree.