Shortwave radiative forcing and efficiency of key aerosol types using AERONET data [Discussion paper]

The shortwave radiative forcing (1F) and the radiative forcing efficiency (1Feff) of natural and anthropogenic aerosols have been analyzed using estimates of radiation both at the Top (TOA) and at the Bottom Of Atmosphere (BOA) modeled based on AERONET aerosol retrievals. Six main types of atmospheric aerosols have been compared (desert mineral dust, biomass burning, urbanindustrial, continental background, oceanic and free troposphere) in similar observational conditions (i.e., for solar zenith angles between 55 and 65 ) in order to compare the nearly same solar geometry. We acknowledge to the MEC (Ministry of Education and Science, Spain) for the next supports: projects CGL2007-66477-C02-02/CLI, CGL2008-04740/CLI and CGL2010-21366-C04-01.