Articles | Volume 14, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-345-2023
Research article
 | 
21 Mar 2023
Research article |  | 21 Mar 2023

The implications of maintaining Earth's hemispheric albedo symmetry for shortwave radiative feedbacks

Aiden R. Jönsson and Frida A.-M. Bender

Data sets

CERES Energy Balanced and Filled (EBAF) TOA and Surface Monthly means data in netCDF Edition 4.1 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA-AQUA/CERES/EBAF_L3B.004.1

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Short summary
The Earth has nearly the same mean albedo in both hemispheres, a feature not well replicated by climate models. Global warming causes changes in surface and cloud properties that affect albedo and that feed back into the warming. We show that models predict more darkening due to ice loss in the Northern than in the Southern Hemisphere in response to increasing CO2 concentrations. This is, to varying degrees, counteracted by changes in cloud cover, with implications for cloud feedback on climate.
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