scholarly journals The ENSO effects on tropical clouds and top-of-atmosphere cloud radiative effects in CMIP5 models

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (10) ◽  
pp. 4443-4465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailan Wang ◽  
Wenying Su
Keyword(s):  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Tropical Clouds

scholarly journals Comparison of Radiative Energy Flows in Observational Datasets and Climate Modeling

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehrhard Raschke ◽  
Stefan Kinne ◽  
William B. Rossow ◽  
Paul W. Stackhouse ◽  
Martin Wild
Keyword(s):  
Climate Modeling ◽  
Radiative Flux ◽  
Radiative Energy ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Ancillary Data ◽  
Global Modeling ◽  
Lower Altitude ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects

AbstractThis study examines radiative flux distributions and local spread of values from three major observational datasets (CERES, ISCCP, and SRB) and compares them with results from climate modeling (CMIP3). Examinations of the spread and differences also differentiate among contributions from cloudy and clear-sky conditions. The spread among observational datasets is in large part caused by noncloud ancillary data. Average differences of at least 10 W m−2 each for clear-sky downward solar, upward solar, and upward infrared fluxes at the surface demonstrate via spatial difference patterns major differences in assumptions for atmospheric aerosol, solar surface albedo and surface temperature, and/or emittance in observational datasets. At the top of the atmosphere (TOA), observational datasets are less influenced by the ancillary data errors than at the surface. Comparisons of spatial radiative flux distributions at the TOA between observations and climate modeling indicate large deficiencies in the strength and distribution of model-simulated cloud radiative effects. Differences are largest for lower-altitude clouds over low-latitude oceans. Global modeling simulates stronger cloud radiative effects (CRE) by +30 W m−2 over trade wind cumulus regions, yet smaller CRE by about −30 W m−2 over (smaller in area) stratocumulus regions. At the surface, climate modeling simulates on average about 15 W m−2 smaller radiative net flux imbalances, as if climate modeling underestimates latent heat release (and precipitation). Relative to observational datasets, simulated surface net fluxes are particularly lower over oceanic trade wind regions (where global modeling tends to overestimate the radiative impact of clouds). Still, with the uncertainty in noncloud ancillary data, observational data do not establish a reliable reference.

scholarly journals The cloud-free global energy balance and inferred cloud radiative effects: an assessment based on direct observations and climate models

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 4787-4812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Wild ◽  
Maria Z. Hakuba ◽  
Doris Folini ◽  
Patricia Dörig-Ott ◽  
Christoph Schär ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Global Energy ◽  
Global Energy Balance ◽  
Direct Observations ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects

scholarly journals Thermodynamic Control on the Poleward Shift of the Extratropical Jet in Climate Change Simulations: The Role of Rising High Clouds and Their Radiative Effects

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 917-934 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Li ◽  
David W. J. Thompson ◽  
Sandrine Bony ◽  
Timothy M. Merlis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Surface Warming ◽  
Thermodynamic Constraint ◽  
Poleward Shift ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
High Clouds

Extratropical eddy-driven jets are predicted to shift poleward in a warmer climate. Recent studies have suggested that cloud radiative effects (CRE) may enhance the amplitude of such shifts. But there is still considerable uncertainty about the underlying mechanisms, whereby CRE govern the jet response to climate change. This study provides new insights into the role of CRE in the jet response to climate change by exploiting the output from six global warming simulations run with and without atmospheric CRE (ACRE). Consistent with previous studies, it is found that the magnitude of the jet shift under climate change is substantially increased in simulations run with ACRE. It is hypothesized that ACRE enhance the jet response to climate change by increasing the upper-tropospheric baroclinicity due to the radiative effects of rising high clouds. The lifting of the tropopause and high clouds in response to surface warming arises from the thermodynamic constraints placed on water vapor concentrations. Hence, the influence of ACRE on the jet shift in climate change simulations may be viewed as an additional “robust” thermodynamic constraint placed on climate change by the Clausius–Clapeyron relation. The hypothesis is tested in simulations run with an idealized dry GCM, in which the model is perturbed with a thermal forcing that resembles the ACRE response to surface warming. It is demonstrated that 1) the enhanced jet shifts found in climate change simulations run with ACRE are consistent with the atmospheric response to the radiative warming associated with rising high clouds, and 2) the amplitude of the jet shift scales linearly with the amplitude of the ACRE forcing.

scholarly journals Monte Carlo-based subgrid parameterization of vertical velocity and stratiform cloud microphysics in ECHAM5.5-HAM2

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 5477-5507
Author(s):  
J. Tonttila ◽  
P. Räisänen ◽  
H. Järvinen
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Vertical Velocity ◽  
Cloud Droplet ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Cloud Activation ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. A new method for parameterizing the subgrid variations of vertical velocity and cloud droplet number concentration (CDNC) is presented for GCMs. These parameterizations build on top of existing parameterizations that create stochastic subgrid cloud columns inside the GCM grid-cells, which can be employed by the Monte Carlo independent column approximation approach for radiative transfer. The new model version adds a description for vertical velocity in individual subgrid columns, which can be used to compute cloud activation and the subgrid distribution of the number of cloud droplets explicitly. This provides a consistent way for simulating the cloud radiative effects with two-moment cloud microphysical properties defined in subgrid-scale. The primary impact of the new parameterizations is to decrease the CDNC over polluted continents, while over the oceans the impact is smaller. This promotes changes in the global distribution of the cloud radiative effects and might thus have implications on model estimation of the indirect radiative effect of aerosols.

scholarly journals The efficacy of aerosol–cloud radiative perturbations from near-surface emissions in deep open-cell stratocumuli

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (23) ◽  
pp. 17475-17488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Possner ◽  
Hailong Wang ◽  
Robert Wood ◽  
Ken Caldeira ◽  
Thomas P. Ackerman
Keyword(s):  
Emission Line ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Detection And Attribution ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects ◽  
Ship Tracks ◽  
Cloud Radiative Properties

Abstract. Aerosol–cloud radiative effects are determined and quantified in simulations of deep open-cell stratocumuli observed during the VAMOS Ocean-Cloud-Atmosphere-Land Study Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx) campaign off the west coast of Chile. The cloud deck forms in a boundary layer 1.5 km deep, with cell sizes reaching 50 km in diameter. Global databases of ship tracks suggest that these linear structures are seldom found in boundary layers this deep. Here, we quantify the changes in cloud radiative properties to a continuous aerosol point source moving along a fixed emission line releasing 1017 particles per second. We show that a spatially coherent cloud perturbation is not evident along the emission line. Yet our model simulates an increase in domain-mean all-sky albedo of 0.05, corresponding to a diurnally averaged cloud radiative effect of 20 W m−2, given the annual mean solar insolation at the VOCALS-REx site. Therefore, marked changes in cloud radiative properties in precipitating deep open cells may be driven by anthropogenic near-surface aerosol perturbations, such as those generated by ships. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these changes in cloud radiative properties are masked by the naturally occurring variability within the organised cloud field. A clear detection and attribution of cloud radiative effects to a perturbation in aerosol concentrations becomes possible when sub-filtering of the cloud field is applied, using the spatio-temporal distribution of the aerosol perturbation. Therefore, this work has implications for the detection and attribution of effective cloud radiative forcing in marine stratocumuli, which constitutes one of the major physical uncertainties within the climate system. Our results suggest that ships may sometimes have a substantial radiative effect on marine clouds and albedo, even when ship tracks are not readily visible.

Reassessing the Effect of Cloud Type on Earth’s Energy Balance in the Age of Active Spaceborne Observations. Part I: Top of Atmosphere and Surface

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (19) ◽  
pp. 6197-6217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan S. L’Ecuyer ◽  
Yun Hang ◽  
Alexander V. Matus ◽  
Zhien Wang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Balance ◽  
Vertical Structure ◽  
Classical Problem ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Radiative Effect ◽  
Radiative Effects ◽  
Solar Absorption ◽  
Structure Information ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effect ◽  
Cloud Radiative Effects

AbstractThis study revisits the classical problem of quantifying the radiative effects of unique cloud types in the era of spaceborne active observations. The radiative effects of nine cloud types, distinguished based on their vertical structure defined by CloudSat and CALIPSO observations, are assessed at both the top of the atmosphere and the surface. The contributions from single- and multilayered clouds are explicitly diagnosed. The global, annual mean net cloud radiative effect at the top of the atmosphere is found to be −17.1 ± 4.2 W m−2 owing to −44.2 ± 2 W m−2 of shortwave cooling and 27.1 ± 3.7 W m−2 of longwave heating. Leveraging explicit cloud base and vertical structure information, we further estimate the annual mean net cloud radiative effect at the surface to be −24.8 ± 8.7 W m−2 (−51.1 ± 7.8 W m−2 in the shortwave and 26.3 ± 3.8 W m−2 in the longwave). Multilayered clouds are found to exert the strongest influence on the top-of-atmosphere energy balance. However, a strong asymmetry in net cloud radiative cooling between the hemispheres (8.6 W m−2) is dominated by enhanced cooling from stratocumulus over the southern oceans. It is found that there is no corresponding asymmetry at the surface owing to enhanced longwave emission by southern ocean clouds in winter, which offsets a substantial fraction of their impact on solar absorption in summer. Thus the asymmetry in cloud radiative effects is entirely realized as an atmosphere heating imbalance between the hemispheres.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document