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ESD Ideas: Translating historical extreme weather events into a warmer world

Adapting to climate change requires an understanding of how extreme weather events are changing. We propose a new approach to examine how the consequences of a particular weather pattern have been made worse by climate change, using an example of a severe windstorm that occurred in 1903. When this storm is translated into a warmer world, it produces higher wind speeds and increased rainfall, suggesting that this storm would be more damaging if it occurred today rather than 120 years ago.

Global observations of aerosol indirect effects from marine liquid clouds

Interactions between aerosol pollution and liquid clouds are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in the effective radiative forcing of climate over the industrial era. We use global satellite observations to decompose the forcing into components from changes in cloud-droplet number concentration, cloud water content, and cloud amount. Our results reduce uncertainty in these forcing components and clarify their relative importance.

Technical note: NASAaccess – a tool for access, reformatting, and visualization of remotely sensed earth observation and climate data

We present an open-source platform in response to the NASA Open-Source Science Initiative for accessing and presenting quantitative remote-sensing earth observation,and climate data. With our platform scientists, stakeholders and concerned citizens can engage in the exploration, modelling, and understanding of data. We envisioned this platform as lowering the technical barriers and simplifying the process of accessing and leveraging additional modelling frameworks for data.

The dehydration carousel of stratospheric water vapor in the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone

We studied water vapour in a critical region of the atmosphere, the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone, using rare in situ observations. Our study shows that extremely high water vapour values observed in the stratosphere within the Asian monsoon anticyclone still undergo significant freeze-drying and that water vapour concentrations set by the Lagrangian dry point are a better proxy for the stratospheric water vapour budget than rare observations of enhanced water mixing ratios.

Late Cenozoic sea-surface-temperature evolution of the South Atlantic Ocean

We present two new sea surface temperature (SST) records in comparison with available SST records to reconstruct South Atlantic paleoceanographic evolution. Our results show a low SST gradient in the Eocene–early Oligocene due to the persistent gyral circulation. A higher SST gradient in the Middle–Late Miocene infers a stronger circumpolar current. The southern South Atlantic was the coldest region in the Southern Ocean and likely the main deep-water formation location in the Middle Miocene.

Soil-biodegradable plastic films do not decompose in a lake sediment over 9 months of incubation

Agriculture relies heavily on plastic mulch films, which may be transported to aquatic environments. We investigated the breakdown of soil-biodegradable agricultural mulch films in lake sediments. After 40 weeks, films were intact, and no significant CO2 or CH4 was produced from the biodegradable mulch films. We conclude that the mulch films we used have a low biodegradability in lake sediments. The sediment lacks the microbes needed to break down the biodegradable plastics that were used here.

Linear polarization signatures of atmospheric dust with the SolPol direct-sun polarimeter

Atmospheric dust particles may present a preferential alignment due to their shape on long range transport. Since dust is abundant and plays a key role to global climate, the elusive observation of orientation will be a game changer to existing measurement techniques and the representation of particles in climate models. We utilize a specifically designed instrument, SolPol, and target the Sun from the ground for large polarization values under dusty conditions, a clear sign of orientation.

Biomineralization of amorphous Fe-, Mn- and Si-rich mineral phases by cyanobacteria under oxic and alkaline conditions

Iron and manganese are poorly soluble in oxic and alkaline solutions but much more soluble under anoxic conditions. As a result, authigenic minerals rich in Fe and/or Mn have been viewed as diagnostic of anoxic conditions. However, here we reveal a new case of biomineralization by specific cyanobacteria, forming abundant Fe(III)- and Mn(IV)-rich amorphous phases under oxic conditions in an alkaline lake. This might be an overlooked biotic contribution to the scavenging of Fe from water columns.

Rapid saturation of cloud water adjustments to shipping emissions

Aerosol from burning fuel changes cloud properties, e.g., the number of droplets and the content of water. Here, we study how clouds respond to different amounts of shipping aerosol. Droplet numbers increase linearly with increasing aerosol over a broad range until they stop increasing, while the amount of liquid water always increases, independently of emission amount. These changes in cloud properties can make them reflect more or less sunlight, which is important for the earth’s climate.

SI-traceable validation of a laser spectrometer for balloon-borne measurements of water vapor in the upper atmosphere

The abundance of water vapor (H2O) in the upper atmosphere has a significant impact on the rate of global warming. We developed a new lightweight spectrometer (ALBATROSS) for H2O measurements aboard meteorological balloons. Here, we assess the accuracy and precision of ALBATROSS using metrology-grade reference gases. The results demonstrate the exceptional potential of mid-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy as a new reference method for in situ measurements of H2O in the upper atmosphere.

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