edu.ucar.opensky::articles:27242 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-24T18:46:40.396385 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7b56pz2 https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.f17050d7 https Related Dataset #1 ERA5 monthly averaged data on single levels from 1940 to present https://doi.org/10.5067/Aqua/CERES/SSF1degDay_L3.004A https Related Dataset #2 CERES Level 3 SSF1deg-Day Aqua-MODIS HDF file - Edition 4A https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD08_M3.061 https Related Dataset #3 MYD08_M3 MODIS/Aqua Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Monthly L3 Global 1Deg CMG Long-term trends in aerosols, low clouds, and large-scale meteorology over the Western North Atlantic from 2003 to 2020 2024-06-16T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7b56pz2 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039592 Park, J. M. author McComiskey, Allison author Painemal, D. author Smith, W. L. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher A continuous decrease in aerosols over the Western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) on a decadal timescale provides a long-term benchmark to evaluate how various natural and anthropogenic processes affect the manifestation of aerosol-cloud interactions in this region. Furthermore, the WNAO serves as a natural laboratory with diverse aerosol sources, marine boundary layer clouds more variable than those in marine stratocumulus deck regions, and unique flow regimes established by the Gulf Stream and the semi-permanent Bermuda High. We investigate how satellite-retrieved macrophysical and microphysical properties of low clouds and the surface shortwave irradiance changed from 2003 to 2020, in tandem with this aerosol decrease. The decadal changes in large-scale meteorology related to the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are also examined. We find a reduction in low-cloud optical thickness, accompanied by fewer and larger cloud droplets, yet observe no significant changes in low-cloud fraction and liquid water path. Despite the reduction in low-cloud optical thickness together with aerosol decrease, a corresponding increase in the trends of surface shortwave irradiance, also known as surface brightening, is lacking. This absence of brightening is potentially related to concomitant changes found in large-scale meteorology associated with NAO-Bermuda High strengthening, sea surface warming, and atmospheric moistening- as well as an increase in high-level cloud fraction that can counteract the surface brightening. Ultimately, our findings suggest that spatial patterns of decadal meteorological variability introduce complexities in the surface cloud radiative effect over the WNAO, thereby complicating the isolation and examination of aerosol-cloud interactions. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2024 American Geophysical Union (AGU). None eng geoscientificInformation