Detecting anthropogenic cloud perturbations with deep learning

TL;DR

This paper employs deep learning to detect and analyze human-made cloud changes caused by aerosols, aiming to clarify their impact on climate and Earth's energy balance.

Contribution

It introduces a deep convolutional neural network approach to identify and study anthropogenic cloud perturbations, advancing understanding of their climatic significance.

Findings

Identified specific cloud perturbations linked to aerosols

Quantified the prevalence of these perturbations

Provided insights into their potential climate effects

Abstract

One of the most pressing questions in climate science is that of the effect of anthropogenic aerosol on the Earth's energy balance. Aerosols provide the `seeds' on which cloud droplets form, and changes in the amount of aerosol available to a cloud can change its brightness and other physical properties such as optical thickness and spatial extent. Clouds play a critical role in moderating global temperatures and small perturbations can lead to significant amounts of cooling or warming. Uncertainty in this effect is so large it is not currently known if it is negligible, or provides a large enough cooling to largely negate present-day warming by CO2. This work uses deep convolutional neural networks to look for two particular perturbations in clouds due to anthropogenic aerosol and assess their properties and prevalence, providing valuable insights into their climatic effects.