{"id":3679,"date":"2025-05-09T07:23:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T07:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/human-impact-on-climate\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T17:08:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:08:32","slug":"human-impact-on-climate","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/en\/human-impact-on-climate\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthropogenic climate forcing"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"3679\" class=\"elementor elementor-3679 elementor-1692\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ac537c7 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"ac537c7\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7ae3324 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"7ae3324\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d5cba34 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d5cba34\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Anthropogenic climate forcing<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a14ad19 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a14ad19\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Anthropogenic climate change is a tug-of-war with fossil fuels playing both sides of the field. Fossil fuel use emits both climate-warming greenhouse gases and climate-cooling aerosols. The impact of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds is the most uncertain driver of climate change. If the <strong>poorly-quantified aerosol cooling has thus far masked a large part of well-quantified greenhouse gas warming<\/strong>, then Earth\u2019s climate would be highly sensitive to anthropogenic forcing. The general aim of our research is to<strong> better constrain aerosol forcing to enable more reliable projections of climate futures, informing climate change mitigation and adaptation.<\/strong>   <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a1ee98e e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"a1ee98e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1e40b89 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"1e40b89\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-94.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Image 94\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MzYwMywidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6XC9cL2tsaWltYS51dC5lZVwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDZcL2ltYWdlLTk0LnBuZyJ9\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-94-768x391.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large wp-image-3603\" alt=\"Illustration of the impact of aerosols on low clouds: factory emissions reduce cloud water content and alter solar radiation reflection.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-94-768x391.png 768w, https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-94-300x153.png 300w, https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-94.png 942w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6127d37 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6127d37\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We improve the understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions using plume-shaped polluted cloud track opportunistic experiments. Toll et al 2019 <em>Nature<\/em> <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a889faf e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"a889faf\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d9f4f82 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"d9f4f82\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-86ab0da de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"86ab0da\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Aerosols<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d6fb0c3 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d6fb0c3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>We improve the understanding of aerosol-cloud interactions using plume-shaped polluted cloud track opportunistic experiments, where experiment-like conditions occur without any intervention by the researcher. We rely on remote sensing of clouds and precipitation to study aerosol impacts on clouds. To what extent are clouds more extensive, thicker and brighter in response to anthropogenic aerosol pollution? Answering these questions helps to solve one of the greatest puzzles in climate science. <br>    <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c1fe530 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"c1fe530\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d4bf614 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"d4bf614\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-95.png\" data-elementor-open-lightbox=\"yes\" data-elementor-lightbox-title=\"Image 95\" data-e-action-hash=\"#elementor-action%3Aaction%3Dlightbox%26settings%3DeyJpZCI6MzYwNCwidXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6XC9cL2tsaWltYS51dC5lZVwvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDZcL2ltYWdlLTk1LnBuZyJ9\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/elementor\/thumbs\/image-95-r71q4lqpizrri3wynptb4ohu5bmzab22ib9kwwrmpc.png\" title=\"Image 95\" alt=\"Satellite image showing aerosol trails in clouds over the Kamchatka region, with volcanoes marked by red markers.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9440f13 de_scroll_animation_no elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"9440f13\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Aerosol-polluted cloud tracks: the cloud tracks polluted by industrial aerosols are given in grey and unpolluted clouds in brownish colours. The industrial aerosol sources inducing the polluted cloud tracks are indicated with place markers. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anthropogenic climate forcing Anthropogenic climate change is a tug-of-war with fossil fuels playing both sides of the field. Fossil fuel use emits both climate-warming greenhouse gases and climate-cooling aerosols. The impact of anthropogenic aerosols on clouds is the most uncertain driver of climate change. If the poorly-quantified aerosol cooling has thus far masked a large [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3679","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Anthropogenic climate forcing | T\u00dc kliimauuringute keskus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We investigate the magnitude of human impact on climate. Natural experiments refine the interconnections between aerosols and clouds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/kliima.ut.ee\/inimtegevuse-kliimamoju\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Anthropogenic climate forcing | T\u00dc kliimauuringute keskus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We investigate the magnitude of human impact on climate. 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