A high‐latitude convective cloud feedback and equable climates
By Dorian S. Abbot, Eli Tziperman. 2008
139 citations recorded by the source corpus.
A convective cloud feedback on extratropical surface temperatures is identified in a zonally averaged two‐level atmospheric model. The model contains simplified parametrizations for convection, precipitation, and clouds, and a long‐wave radiation scheme that explicitly depends on carbon dioxide, water vapour, and cloud fraction. The convective cloud feedback occurs if the extratropical surface temperature is increased enough to initiate strong atmospheric convection. This results in a change from low to high clouds and from negative to neutral or positive cloud radiative forcing, which further warms the surface and leads to more convection. This positive feedback activates as the CO2 concentration is increased and leads to a climate solution with high boundary‐layer temperatures, convection at mid and high latitudes, and an Equator to Pole temperature difference that is reduced by 8–10 °C. The reduction in Equator to Pole temperature difference is due to changes in high‐latitude local heat balance and occurs despite decreased meridional heat transport. The convective cloud feedback also leads to multiple equilibria and hysteresis with respect to CO2 and other model variables, although these results may be due to the simplicity of the model. The possible connection of the behaviour of the model at high CO2 with equable climates is considered. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society
Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Global and Planetary Change
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fdbe9fb91b69cf2cb501f6d5d7c8713ccfcbe881
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Atmospheric Science
In Global and Planetary Change
Citations in the corpus
- Mixed-phase clouds cause climate model biases in Arctic wintertime temperature inversions (2014, background): “This reduction of atmospheric stability and disappearance of temperature inversions is a prerequisite for deep convection over the Arctic ocean in winter, which has been suggested as a mechanism keeping the Arctic ocean free of winter sea ice in warm climates (Abbot and Tziperman 2008).”
- STRONG DEPENDENCE OF THE INNER EDGE OF THE HABITABLE ZONE ON PLANETARY ROTATION RATE (2014, methodology): “When D=50 m, TS has a maximum at Prot =4 days that appears to be associated with a high latitude cloud feedback similar to that described by Abbot & Tziperman (2008).”