Thermodynamic control of anvil cloud amount
Abstract
General circulation models show that as the surface temperature increases, the convective anvil clouds shrink. By analyzing radiative–convective equilibrium simulations, our work shows that this behavior is rooted in basic energetic and thermodynamic properties of the atmosphere: As the climate warms, the clouds rise and remain at nearly the same temperature, but find themselves in a more stable atmosphere; this enhanced stability reduces the convective outflow in the upper troposphere and decreases the anvil cloud fraction. By warming the troposphere and increasing the upper-tropospheric stability, the clustering of deep convection also reduces the convective outflow and the anvil cloud fraction. When clouds are radiatively active, this robust coupling between temperature, high clouds, and circulation exerts a positive feedback on convective aggregation and favors the maintenance of strongly aggregated atmospheric states at high temperatures. This stability iris mechanism likely contributes to the narrowing of rainy areas as the climate warms. Whether or not it influences climate sensitivity requires further investigation.
- Authors:
-
- Paris-Sorbonne and Pierre-and-Marie Curie (UPMC) Univ., Paris (France). Dynamic Meteorology Lab. (LMD)/Inst. Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL)
- Max-Planck Inst. for Meteorology, Hamburg (Germany)
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Climate and Global Dynamics Lab.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. Corp. for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Co (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division; National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Strasbourg (France); National Research Agency (ANR); Max-Planck Society; German Research Foundation (DFG)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1262439
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1438340
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FC02-97ER62402; ANR-10-LABX-0018; VO 1765/3-1
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 113 Journal Issue: 32; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; anvil cloud; cloud feedback; convective aggregation; large-scale circulation; climate sensitivity
Citation Formats
Bony, Sandrine, Stevens, Bjorn, Coppin, David, Becker, Tobias, Reed, Kevin A., Voigt, Aiko, and Medeiros, Brian. Thermodynamic control of anvil cloud amount. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1601472113.
Bony, Sandrine, Stevens, Bjorn, Coppin, David, Becker, Tobias, Reed, Kevin A., Voigt, Aiko, & Medeiros, Brian. Thermodynamic control of anvil cloud amount. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601472113
Bony, Sandrine, Stevens, Bjorn, Coppin, David, Becker, Tobias, Reed, Kevin A., Voigt, Aiko, and Medeiros, Brian. Wed .
"Thermodynamic control of anvil cloud amount". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601472113.
@article{osti_1262439,
title = {Thermodynamic control of anvil cloud amount},
author = {Bony, Sandrine and Stevens, Bjorn and Coppin, David and Becker, Tobias and Reed, Kevin A. and Voigt, Aiko and Medeiros, Brian},
abstractNote = {General circulation models show that as the surface temperature increases, the convective anvil clouds shrink. By analyzing radiative–convective equilibrium simulations, our work shows that this behavior is rooted in basic energetic and thermodynamic properties of the atmosphere: As the climate warms, the clouds rise and remain at nearly the same temperature, but find themselves in a more stable atmosphere; this enhanced stability reduces the convective outflow in the upper troposphere and decreases the anvil cloud fraction. By warming the troposphere and increasing the upper-tropospheric stability, the clustering of deep convection also reduces the convective outflow and the anvil cloud fraction. When clouds are radiatively active, this robust coupling between temperature, high clouds, and circulation exerts a positive feedback on convective aggregation and favors the maintenance of strongly aggregated atmospheric states at high temperatures. This stability iris mechanism likely contributes to the narrowing of rainy areas as the climate warms. Whether or not it influences climate sensitivity requires further investigation.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1601472113},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
number = 32,
volume = 113,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Wed Jul 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1601472113
Web of Science
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