Fig. 3: Latitudinal variation of SLH-induced RE on SLCF under present-day conditions.
From: Natural short-lived halogens exert an indirect cooling effect on climate
Despite the opposite sign of the RE induced by SLH on CH4 (positive orange bars, warming) and O3 (negative green bars, cooling), changes in CH4 RE peak at low latitudes and close to the Equator, whereas the O3 RE reaches a maximum over the high latitudes and polar regions. The SLH-mediated RE contribution from aerosols peaks over the southern high latitudes and shows the largest uncertainty over the northern mid-latitudes. Consequently, the net (gas + aerosols, cyan bars) perturbation of SLH on the radiative balance shows a pronounced latitudinal variation, where the net high-latitude RE can be up to three-times larger than within the low latitudes. The uncertainty range for each species is calculated as half of the difference between the maximum and minimum RE obtained for the complete set of present-day model sensitivities (mean ± range/2) as described in Supplementary Information (see also Extended Data Table 5).
