Tropospheric aerosol climate forcing in clear-sky satellite observations over the oceans

Tropospheric aerosols affect the radiative forcing of Earth's climate, but their variable concentrations complicate an understanding of their global i nfluence. Model-based estimates of aerosol distributions helped reveal spat ial patterns indicative of the presence of tropospheric aerosols in the sat ellite-observed clear-sky solar radiation budget over the world's oceans. T he results show that, although geographical signatures due to both natural and anthropogenic aerosols are manifest in the satellite observations, the naturally occurring sea-salt is the leading aerosol contributor to the glob al-mean dear-sky radiation balance over oceans.