Update 4/11/2012 – See also the post on this paper by Pat Michals – Atmospheric Aerosols and the Death of Nature
In our paper
Matsui, T., and R.A. Pielke Sr., 2006: Measurement-based estimation of the spatial gradient of aerosol radiative forcing. Geophys. Res. Letts., 33, L11813, doi:10.1029/2006GL025974
we concluded that
“…… the spatial mean and the spatial gradient of the aerosol radiative forcing in comparison with those of well-mixed greenhouse gases (GHG). Unlike GHG, aerosols have much greater spatial heterogeneity in their radiative forcing. The heterogeneous diabatic heating can modulate the gradient in horizontal pressure field and atmospheric circulations, thus altering the regional climate.”
A new Nature paper supports our finding. This paper is
Booth, Ben B. B., Nick J. Dunstone, Paul R. Halloran1, Timothy Andrews & Nicolas Bellouin: 2012: Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability. Nature. http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nature10946
The paper is discussed in a…
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The Delinquent Teenager
Climate Ponderings 