Fig. 1: Atmospheric and surface contributions to the observed clear-sky hemispheric albedo asymmetry. | Communications Earth & Environment

Fig. 1: Atmospheric and surface contributions to the observed clear-sky hemispheric albedo asymmetry.

From: Anthropogenic aerosol and cryosphere changes drive Earth’s strong but transient clear-sky hemispheric albedo asymmetry

Fig. 1

a Total clear-sky reflected solar radiation (Rclr) and its atmospheric and surface components averaged over the Northern Hemisphere (NH; dark gray bars) and Southern Hemisphere (SH; light gray bars). b Average NH minus SH differences in Rclr (ΔRclr) for the total clear-sky reflection (brown bar) and its atmospheric (orange bar) and surface (yellow bar) components. Markers in b indicate the component of the total hemispheric difference attributable to the tropics (0–30°; dark gray), mid-latitudes (30–60°; medium gray), and poles (60–90°; light gray). Error bars in a, b represent 95% confidence in the mean value. c Zonal averages of total ΔRclr (brown dashed line) and its atmospheric (orange line) and surface (yellow line) components. d Zonal hemispheric difference for total AOD (Δτa; dashed black line) and each species [dark red line for balck carbon (BC), orange line for dust, green line for organic carbon (OC), blue line for sea salt, and purple line for sulfate (SO4)]. For c, d, the abscissa is area-weighted (plotted as sine of latitude). All averages are for 2003–2020, inclusive.

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