B. H. Samset
Papers
3
Total Citations
69
H-Index
3
About
B. H. Samset is a leading climate scientist whose research focuses on the radiative effects of aerosols, particularly black carbon and desert dust, and their influence on the Earth's energy balance. A central theme of Samset's work is reducing the profound uncertainty surrounding how much shortwave radiation these absorbing aerosols trap in the atmosphere. In a highly influential 2018 study (45 citations), Samset identified a critical "spatial representativeness error" in ground-based black carbon observations, explaining why observation-based estimates of its warming effect are several times larger than model predictions—a key insight for reconciling these discrepancies. More recently, a 2023 study (20 citations) leveraged in-situ measurements to demonstrate that North African dust absorbs significantly less solar radiation than current global models assume, challenging a major source of uncertainty in dust-climate feedbacks. Samset also contributed to the AeroCom Phase III model intercomparison (2021), synthesizing the state of knowledge on aerosol absorption across leading climate models. By pinpointing systematic errors in both observations and simulations, Samset’s work is essential for improving the accuracy of climate projections and our understanding of aerosol-driven atmospheric heating.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3Aerosol absorption in global models from AeroCom Phase III4 citations · 2021