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Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-971
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-971
22 May 2023
 | 22 May 2023

Detection of large-scale cloud microphysical changes and evidence for decreasing cloud brightness within a major shipping corridor after implementation of the International Maritime Organization 2020 fuel sulfur regulations

Michael Steven Diamond

Abstract. New regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) limiting sulfur emissions from the shipping industry are expected to have large benefits in terms of public health but come with an undesired side effect: an acceleration of global warming as the climate-cooling effects of ship pollution on marine clouds is diminished. Previous work has found a substantial decrease in the detection of ship tracks in clouds after the IMO 2020 regulations went into effect but changes in large-scale cloud properties have been more equivocal. Using a statistical technique that estimates counterfactual fields of what large-scale cloud and radiative properties within an isolated shipping corridor in the southeastern Atlantic would have been in the absence of shipping, we confidently detect a reduction in the magnitude of cloud droplet effective radius decreases within the shipping corridor and find evidence for a reduction in the magnitude of cloud brightening as well. The instantaneous radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions from the IMO 2020 regulations is estimated as O(1 W m-2) within the shipping corridor, lending credence to global estimates of O(0.1 W m-2). In addition to their geophysical significance, our results also provide independent evidence for general compliance with the IMO 2020 regulations.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

25 Jul 2023
| ACP Letters
| Highlight paper
Detection of large-scale cloud microphysical changes within a major shipping corridor after implementation of the International Maritime Organization 2020 fuel sulfur regulations
Michael S. Diamond
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8259–8269, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8259-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8259-2023, 2023
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In 2020, a new international law was imposed that placed strong restrictions on sulfur emissions...
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Fuel sulfur regulations were implemented for ships in 2020 to improve air quality but may also...
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