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  • Atmospheric Sciences

    • Brown Carbon Spheres in East Asian Outflow and Their Optical Properties

      • D. T. L. Alexander, P. A. Crozier, J. R. Anderson
        Original article citation: Science 321," 833 - 836, (2008).

      • Categories: Atmospheric Sciences and Climate Prediction
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 08/08/2008 08:49AM GMT

        Here Duncan Alexander and colleagues analyze what's in the clouds of pollution drifting over the Yellow Sea from East Asia. A common type of carbon particle among the Asian aerosols turns out to be 'brown carbon', which has different optical properties from soot, or 'black carbon'. Atmospheric scientists have become interested in brown carbon recently, but most climate models don't include it. If it's a widespread pollutant, the models will need adjusting.
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Satellite measurements of the clear-sky greenhouse effect from tropospheric ozone

      • Helen M. Worden, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Annmarie Eldering, Reinhard Beer
        Original article citation: Nature Geosci doi:10.1038/ngeo182 (2008)

      • Categories: Atmospheric Sciences
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 04/25/2008 03:10PM GMT

        This paper offers an observation-based estimate of the radiative forcing caused by tropospheric ozone - a greenhouse gas whose impact was previously judged from models alone. Ozone is one of several lesser-known greenhouse gases that seem to be getting more attention these days. I blogged about the finding here: http://blogs.nature.com/climatefeedback/2008/04/in_the_ozone.html
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Influence of the Gulf Stream on the troposphere

      • Shoshiro Minobe, Akira Kuwano-Yoshida, Nobumasa Komori, Shang-Ping Xie, Richard Justin Small
        Original article citation: Nature 452," 206 - 209, (2008).

      • Categories: Atmospheric Sciences and Regional Climate
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 03/13/2008 11:28AM GMT

        The Gulf Stream not only blows warm air across the surface of the Atlantic toward Europe, but reaches upward through the entire troposphere, according to the new data and modelling here (recapped on the Climate Feedback blog, http://blogs.nature.com/climatefeedback/2008/03/gulf_stream_revisited.html, and in an editorial summary, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v452/n7184/covers/). An interesting, though still speculative, implication is that atmospheric waves emanating from this tall column of wind and weather might link the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation with climatic effects throughout the Northern Hemisphere. What could this mean for feedbacks between climate change and ocean circulation?
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Vertical structure of recent Arctic warming

      • Rune G. Graversen, Thorsten Mauritsen, Michael Tjernström, Erland Källén, Gunilla Svensson
        Original article citation: Nature 451," 53 - 56, (2008).

      • Categories: Cryosphere and Atmospheric Sciences
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 01/17/2008 04:14PM GMT

        Rune Graversen and colleagues use statistical analyses to try and understand what processes are important in the recent warming of the Arctic. One of their findings is that a substantial part of the warming is seen at altitude, rather that at the surface - and that means ice-albedo feedbacks can't be as important as previously suggested. This suprising result was picked up in several news stories, some of which may have described it a bit misleadingly, as Oliver Morton discussed on the Climate Feedback blog: http://blogs.nature.com/climatefeedback/2008/01/arctic_amplification_1.html
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Observational evidence for an ocean heat pump induced by tropical cyclones

      • Ryan L. Sriver, Matthew Huber
        Original article citation: Nature 447," (2007).

      • Categories: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate Impacts, and Ocean Sciences
      • Recommended by the Editor: Olive Heffernan on 06/06/2007 09:18PM GMT

        Ryan Sriver and Matthew Huber of Purdue University, Indiana, present substantive evidence in this Nature paper that tropical cyclones play a critial role in mixing the upper layers of the ocean. Ocean mixing transports heat from the tropics to cooler regions, so this has climate implications. The concept isn't new, but it's a solid piece of work as they have more data and longer sampling periods than previous studies. They also auggest that climate change could increase cyclone-induced mixing and heat transport in the future.
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

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