The strength of the tropical inversion and its response to climate change in 18 CMIP5 models

Climate Dynamics

Volumn 45, Issue 1-2, 2015, Pages 375-396

  Qu, Xin ^a   Hall, Alex ^a   Klein, Stephen A ^b   Caldwell, Peter M ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^b LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY   (United States)

Author keywords

EIS; Fast response; Temperature mediated change; Tropical inversion

Indexed keywords

AIR TEMPERATURE; CLIMATE CHANGE; CLIMATE MODELING; CLOUD COVER; GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION; TROPICAL METEOROLOGY;

EID: 84929703897     PISSN: 09307575     EISSN: 14320894     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00382-014-2441-9     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Andrews T, Gregory JM, Webb MJ, Taylor KE (2012) Forcing, feedbacks and climate sensitivity in CMIP5 coupled atmosphere–ocean climate models. Geophys Res Lett 39:L09712. doi:10.1029/2012GL051607
2. Betts AK (1997) The physics and parameterization of moist atmospheric convection, chapter 4: trade cumulus: observations and modelling. Kluwer, Dordrecht
3. Bony S, Dufresne JL (2005) Marine boundary layer clouds at the heart of tropical cloud feedback uncertainties in climate models. Geophys Res Lett 32:L20806. doi:10.1029/2005GL023851
4. Bretherton CS, Blossey PN (2014) Low cloud reduction in a greenhouse-warmed climate: results from Lagrangian LES of a subtropical marine cloudiness transition. J Adv Model Earth Syst. doi:10.1002/2013MS000250
5. Caldwell PM, Zhang Y, Klein SA (2012) CMIP3 subtropical stratocumulus cloud feedback interpreted through a mixed-layer Model. J Clim 26:1607–1625
6. Chen J, Rossow WB, Zhang Y (2000) Radiative effects of cloud-type variations. J Clim 13:264–286
7. Dee DP et al (2011) The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and perfor-mance of the data assimilation system. Q J R Meteorol Soc 137:553–597
8. Gregory JM et al (2004) A new method for diagnosing radiative forcing and climate sensitivity. Geophys Res Lett 31:L03205. doi:10.1029/2003GL018747
9. Hartmann DL, Ockert-Bell ME, Michelsen ML (1992) The effect of cloud type on earth’s energy balance: global analysis. J Clim 5:1281–1304
10. Jansen E et al (2007) Palaeoclimate. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
11. Kalnay E et al (1996) The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 77:437–470
12. Klein SA, Hartmann DL (1993) The seasonal cycle of low stratiform clouds. J Clim 6:1587–1606
13. Klein SA, Zhang Y, Zelinka MD, Pincus RN, Boyle J, Gleckler PJ (2013) Are climate model simulations of clouds improving? An evaluation using the ISCCP simulator. J Geophys Res 118:1–14. doi:10.1002/jgrd.50141
14. Kubar TL, Waliser DE, Li J-L, Jiang X (2012) On the annual cycle, variability, and correlations of oceanic low-topped clouds with large-scale circulation using Aqua MODIS and ERA-Interim. J Clim 25:6152–6174. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00478.1
15. Liu Z, Vavrus S, He F, Wen N, Zhong Y (2005) Rethinking tropical ocean response to global warming: the enhanced equatorial warming. J Clim 18:4684–4700
16. Moeng CH, Stevens B (1999) Marine stratocumulus and its representation in GCMs. In: Randall DA (ed) General circulation model development: past, present, and future. Elsevier, New York, pp 577–604
17. Myhre G et al (2013) Anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing. In: Stocker TF, Qin D, Plattner G-K, Tignor M, Allen SK, Boschung J, Nauels A, Xia Y, Bex V, Midgley PM (eds) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
18. Ogura T, Webb MJ, Watanabe M, Lambert FH, Tsushima Y, Sekiguchi M (2013) Importance of instantaneous radiative forcing for rapid tropospheric adjustment. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1955-x
19. Qu X, Hall A, Klein SA, Caldwell PM (2014) On the spread of changes in marine low cloud cover in climate model simulations of the 21st century. Clim Dyn 42:2603–2626. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1945-z
20. Richter I, Xie S-P (2008) Muted precipitation increase in global warming simulations: a surface evaporation perspective. J Geophys Res 113:D24118. doi:10.1029/2008JD010561
21. Rienecker MM et al (2011) MERRA: NASA’s modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications. J Clim 24:3624–3648
22. Slingo A (1990) Sensitivity of the earth’s radiation budget to changes in low clouds. Nature 343:49–51
23. Slingo JM (1980) A cloud parameterization scheme derived from GATE data for use with a numerical model. Q J R Meteorol Soc 106:747–770
24. Soden BJ, Held IM (2006) An assessment of climate feedbacks in coupled ocean–atmosphere models. J Clim 19:3354–3360
25. Stephens GL (2005) Cloud feedbacks in the climate system: a critical review. J Clim 18:237–273
26. Stevens B (2005) Atmospheric moist convection. Annu Rev Earth Planet 33:605–643
27. Sun F, Hall A, Qu X (2011) On the relationship between low cloud variability and lower tropospheric stability in the Southeast Pacic. Atmos Chem Phys 11:9053–9065. doi:10.5194/acp-11-9053-2011
28. Taylor KE, Stouffer RJ, Meehl GA (2012) An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 93:485–498
29. Vial J, Dufresne JL, Bony S (2013) On the interpretation of inter-model spread in CMIP5 climate sensitivity estimates. Clim Dyn 41:3339–3362. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1725-9
30. Watanabe M et al (2012) Fast and slow timescales in the tropical low-cloud response to increasing CO2 in two climate models. Clim Dyn 39:1627–1641. doi:10.1007/s00382-011-1178-y
31. Webb MJ, Lambert FH, Gregory JM (2012) Origins of differences in climate sensitivity, forcing and feedback in climate models. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-012-1336-x
32. Williams KD et al (2006) Evaluation of a component of the cloud response to climate change in an intercomparison of climate models. Clim Dyn 26:145–165
33. Williams KD, Ingram WJ, Gregory JM (2008) Time variation of effective climate sensitivity in GCMs. J Clim 21:5076–5090. doi:10.1175/2008JCLI2371.1
34. Wood R, Bretherton CS (2006) On the relationship between stratiform low cloud cover and lower-tropospheric stability. J Clim 19:6425–6432
35. Wood R (2012) Stratocumulus clouds: review. Mon Weather Rev 140:2373–2423
36. Wyant MC, Khairoutdinov M, Bretherton CS (2006) Climate sensitivity and cloud response of a GCM with a superparameterization. Geophys Res Lett 33:L06714. doi:10.1029/2005GL025464
37. Xie S-P, Deser C, Vecchi GA, Ma J, Teng H, Wittenberg AT (2010) Global warming pattern formation: sea surface temperature and rainfall. J Clim 23:966–986. doi:10.1175/2009JCLI3329.1
38. Xu Z, Li M, Patricola CM, Chang P (2013) Oceanic origin of southeast tropical Atlantic biases. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-013-1901-y
39. Yue Q, Kahn BH, Fetzer EJ, Teixeira J (2011) Relationship between marine boundary layer clouds and lower tropospheric stability observed by AIRS, CloudSat, and CALIOP. J Geophy Res 116:D18212. doi:10.1029/2011JD016136
40. Zelinka MD, Klein SA, Hartmann DL (2012) Computing and partitioning cloud feedbacks using cloud property histograms. Part II: attribution to changes in cloud amount, altitude, and optical depth. J Clim 25:3736–3754
41. Zhang Y, Stevens B, Medeiros B, Ghil M (2009) Low-cloud fraction, lower-tropospheric stability, and large-scale divergence. J Clim 22:4827–4844
42. Zheng Y, Shinoda T, Lin J-L, Kiladis GN (2011) Sea surface temperature biases under the stratus cloud deck in the southeast Pacific ocean in 19 IPCC AR4 coupled general circulation models. J Clim 24:4139–4164