Observed cloud and atmospheric drivers of surface radiation change 2001-2023 on the North Slope of Alaska

Arctic surface warming is driven by a changing surface energy budget. However, sparse observations in the Arctic limit our ability to identify drivers of surface energy budget change. Here, we leverage detailed long-term observations at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's North Slope of Alaska (NSA) facility to constrain and attribute drivers of surface radiation change 2001-2023. We combine cloud and atmospheric observations with radiative transfer calculations, allowing us to quantify the relative impact of clouds, temperature, and water vapor on surface radiation trends and variability. At the ARM NSA facility, downwelling longwave radiation is increasing year-round and downwelling shortwave radiation is decreasing during summer. We find that cloud changes intensify the downwelling longwave radiation trend, which is largely due to warming. We also find that cloud changes drive decreasing downwelling shortwave radiation during summer. These results reveal the important role of clouds in driving surface radiation trends along the North Slope of Alaska.