Abstract
SULPHATE aerosols can act as nuclei for cloud formation, thereby cooling the climate by increasing the Earth's albedo1–5; however the magnitude of this effect is very uncertain3,6. Recently, Langner et al.7 calculated that at most 6% of the anthropogenic sulphur emission forms new particles, while 44% adds mass to existing sulphate particles activated in clouds. It was therefore suggested7,8 that previous studies1,2,9 had overestimated the effect of sulphate aerosols on climate. Although it has been proposed that sub-CCN-size particles can grow to CCN-size in clouds7,10, this was thought to require the large supersaturations present in cumuliform clouds, rather than the smaller values characteristic of marine stratiform clouds, which are most important for radiative forcing. Here we show that natural variability of even low average supersaturations allows particles as small as 0.015 um to grow to become CCN. This process can quadruple the CCN concentration and significantly increase the corresponding aerosol effect on climate.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Twomey, S. A., Piepgrass, M. & Wolfe, T. L. Tellus 36b, 356–366 (1984).
Kaufman, Y. J., Fraser, R. S. & Mahoney, R. J. Clim. 4, 578–588 (1991).
Charlson, R. J. et al. Science 255, 423–430 (1992).
Leaitch, W. R., Isaac, G. A., Strapp, J. W., Banic, C. M. & Wiebe, H. A. J. geophys. Res. 97, 2463–2474 (1992).
Hansen, J. E. & Lacis, A. A. Nature 346, 713–719 (1990).
Twomey, S. A. Atmos. Envir. 25A, 2435–2442 (1991).
Langner, J., Rodhe, H., Crutzen, P. J. & Zimmermann, P. Nature 359, 712–715 (1992).
Kiehl, J. T. & Briegleb, B.P. Science 260, 311–314 (1993).
Wigley, T. M. L. Nature 339, 355–357 (1989).
Hegg, D. A. Geophys. Res. Let. 17, 2165–2168 (1990).
Twomey, S. A., Atmospheric Aerosol (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1977).
Hobbs, P. V. Q. JI. R. met. Soc. 97, 263–271 (1971).
Hoppel, W. A., Fitzgerald, J. W., Ferick, G. M. & Larson, R. E. J. geophys. Res. 95, 3659–3686 (1990).
Hegg, D. A., Ferek, R. J. & Hobbs, P. V. J. geophys. Res. 98, 8841–8846 (1993).
Whitby, K. T. Atmos. Envir. 12, 135–159 (1978).
Lelieveld, J. & Heintzenberg, J. Science 258, 117–120 (1992).
Hegg, D. A., Yuen, P.-F. & Larson, T. V. J. geophys. Res. 97, 12927–12933 (1992).
Ayers, G. P. & Larson, T. V. J. atmos. Chem. 11, 143–167 (1990).
Schwartz, S. E. Atmos. Envir. 22, 2491–2499 (1988).
Schwartz, S. E. in The Chemistry of Acid Rain: Sources and Atmospheric Processes (eds Johnson, R. W. & Gordon, G. E.) Ch. 8, 94–108 (ACS Symp. Ser. No. 349, Atmospheric Chemistry Soc., 1987).
Hoppel, W. A., Frick, G. M. & Fitzgerald, J. W. Aerosol Sci. Tech. 20, 1–30 (1994).
Clarke, A. D., Ahlquist, N. C. & Covert, D. S. J. geophys. Res. 92, 4179–4190 (1987).
Paluch, I. R. & Knight, C. A. J. Atmos. Sci. 41, 1801–1815 (1993).
Kaufman, Y. J. & Chou, M.-D. J. Clim. 6, 1241–1252 (1993).
Novakov, T. & Penner, J. E. Nature 365, 823–826 (1994).
Hegg, D. A., Hobbs, P. V., Ferek, R. J. & Waggoner, A. P. J. geophys. Res. (Submitted).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kaufman, Y., Tanré, D. Effect of variations in super-saturation on the formation of cloud condensation nuclei. Nature 369, 45–48 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/369045a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/369045a0
This article is cited by
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.