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Title: Influence of biogenic emissions from boreal forests on aerosol–cloud interactions

Journal Article · · Nature Geoscience
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [5];  [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [6];  [6];  [7] more »;  [7];  [8]; ORCiD logo [8];  [9]; ORCiD logo [2];  [10];  [2] « less
  1. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Nanjing Univ. (China)
  2. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland)
  3. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)
  4. Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland); Univ. of Reading (United Kingdom)
  5. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Nanjing Univ. (China); Finnish Meteorological Inst., Helsinki (Finland)
  6. Univ. of Eastern Finland, Kuopio (Finland)
  7. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  8. Hebrew Univ. of Jerusalem (Israel)
  9. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA (United States)
  10. Univ. of Helsinki (Finland); Nanjing Univ. (China); Beijing Univ. of Chemical Technology (BUCT) (China); Moscow State Univ. (Russia)

Boreal forest acts as a carbon sink and contributes to the formation of secondary organic aerosols via emission of aerosol precursor compounds. However, these influences on the climate system are poorly quantified. Here we show direct observational evidence that aerosol emissions from the boreal forest biosphere influence warm cloud microphysics and cloud-aerosol interactions in a scale-dependent and highly dynamic manner. Analyses of in situ and ground-based remote-sensing observations from the SMEAR II station in Finland, conducted over eight months in 2014, reveal substantial increases in aerosol load over the forest one to three days after aerosol-poor marine air enters the forest environment. We find that these changes are consistent with secondary organic aerosol formation and, together with water-vapour emissions from evapotranspiration, are associated with changes in the radiative properties of warm, low-level clouds. Here, the feedbacks between boreal forest emissions and aerosol-cloud interactions and the highly dynamic nature of these interactions in air transported over the forest over timescales of several days suggest boreal forests have the potential to mitigate climate change on a continental scale. Our findings suggest that even small changes in aerosol precursor emissions, whether due to changing climatic or anthropogenic factors, may substantially modify the radiative properties of clouds in moderately polluted environments. Emissions from the boreal forest biosphere can substantially increase aerosol load above the forest and influence the radiative properties of clouds, according to analysis of observations from a monitoring station in Finland.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Academy of Finland; European Research Council (ERC); European Union, Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme; USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; SC0010711
OSTI ID:
1881026
Journal Information:
Nature Geoscience, Journal Name: Nature Geoscience Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 15; ISSN 1752-0894
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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ARM: Balloon-borne sounding system (BBSS): Vaisala-processed winds, press., temp, and RH
  • Coulter, Richard; Kyrouac, Jenni; Holdridge, Donna
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); https://doi.org/10.5439/1021460
dataset January 1994
ARM: High Spectral Resolution Lidar
  • Eloranta, Edwin; Garcia, Joseph; Ermold, Brian
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); https://doi.org/10.5439/1025200
dataset January 2011
ARM: Microwave Water Radiometer (MWR): water liq. and vapor along line of sight (LOS) path
  • Cadeddu, Maria
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); https://doi.org/10.5439/1046211
dataset January 1993
ARM: Marine W-band (95 GHz) ARM Cloud Radar
  • Hardin, Joseph; Isom, Bradley; Matthews, Alyssa
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); https://doi.org/10.5439/1150242
dataset January 2012
ceil
  • Morris, Victor; Ermold, Brian
  • Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (US); ARM Data Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States) https://doi.org/10.5439/1181954
dataset January 1996
met.b1
  • Kyrouac, Jenni; Shi, Yan
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dataset January 2021