Relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation and atmospheric state variables in observations and CESM
Abstract
Abstract A detailed examination is made in both observations and the Community Earth System Model (CESM) of relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation, water vapor, temperatures, and precipitation for 2000–2014 to assess the origins of radiative perturbations and climate feedbacks empirically. The 30‐member large ensemble coupled runs are analyzed along with one run with specified sea surface temperatures for 1994 to 2005 (to avoid volcanic eruptions). The vertical structure of the CESM temperature profile tends to be top heavy in the model, with too much deep convection and not enough lower stratospheric cooling as part of the response to tropospheric heating. There is too much absorbed solar radiation (ASR) over the Southern Oceans and not enough in the tropics, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is too large in amplitude in this version of the model. However, the covariability of monthly mean anomalies produces remarkably good replication of most of the observed relationships. There is a lot more high‐frequency variability in radiative fluxes than in temperature, highlighting the role of clouds and transient weather systems in the radiation statistics. Over the Warm Pool in the tropical western Pacific and Indian Oceans, where nonlocal effects from the Walker circulation driven by the ENSO eventsmore »
- Authors:
-
- National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder Colorado USA
- Publication Date:
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1402189
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐SC0012711
- Resource Type:
- Publisher's Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Journal Volume: 120 Journal Issue: 19; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-897X
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Citation Formats
Trenberth, Kevin E., Zhang, Yongxin, and Fasullo, John T. Relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation and atmospheric state variables in observations and CESM. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/2015JD023381.
Trenberth, Kevin E., Zhang, Yongxin, & Fasullo, John T. Relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation and atmospheric state variables in observations and CESM. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023381
Trenberth, Kevin E., Zhang, Yongxin, and Fasullo, John T. Fri .
"Relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation and atmospheric state variables in observations and CESM". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023381.
@article{osti_1402189,
title = {Relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation and atmospheric state variables in observations and CESM},
author = {Trenberth, Kevin E. and Zhang, Yongxin and Fasullo, John T.},
abstractNote = {Abstract A detailed examination is made in both observations and the Community Earth System Model (CESM) of relationships among top‐of‐atmosphere radiation, water vapor, temperatures, and precipitation for 2000–2014 to assess the origins of radiative perturbations and climate feedbacks empirically. The 30‐member large ensemble coupled runs are analyzed along with one run with specified sea surface temperatures for 1994 to 2005 (to avoid volcanic eruptions). The vertical structure of the CESM temperature profile tends to be top heavy in the model, with too much deep convection and not enough lower stratospheric cooling as part of the response to tropospheric heating. There is too much absorbed solar radiation (ASR) over the Southern Oceans and not enough in the tropics, and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is too large in amplitude in this version of the model. However, the covariability of monthly mean anomalies produces remarkably good replication of most of the observed relationships. There is a lot more high‐frequency variability in radiative fluxes than in temperature, highlighting the role of clouds and transient weather systems in the radiation statistics. Over the Warm Pool in the tropical western Pacific and Indian Oceans, where nonlocal effects from the Walker circulation driven by the ENSO events are important, several related biases emerge: in response to high SST anomalies there is more precipitation, water vapor, and cloud and less ASR and outgoing longwave radiation in the model than observed. Different model global mean trends are evident, however, possibly hinting at too much positive cloud feedback in the model.},
doi = {10.1002/2015JD023381},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres},
number = 19,
volume = 120,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Fri Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023381
https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023381
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Web of Science
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
The Evolution of Climate Sensitivity and Climate Feedbacks in the Community Atmosphere Model
journal, March 2012
- Gettelman, A.; Kay, J. E.; Shell, K. M.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 5
Exposing Global Cloud Biases in the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM) Using Satellite Observations and Their Corresponding Instrument Simulators
journal, August 2012
- Kay, J. E.; Hillman, B. R.; Klein, S. A.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 15
The Community Earth System Model: A Framework for Collaborative Research
journal, September 2013
- Hurrell, James W.; Holland, M. M.; Gent, P. R.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 94, Issue 9
Global warming due to increasing absorbed solar radiation: GLOBAL WARMING BY SOLAR RADIATION
journal, April 2009
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 36, Issue 7
Sea Surface Temperature and Large-Scale Circulation Influences on Tropical Greenhouse Effect and Cloud Radiative Forcing
journal, August 1997
- Bony, S.; Lau, K-M.; Sud, Y. C.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 10, Issue 8
A New Sea Surface Temperature and Sea Ice Boundary Dataset for the Community Atmosphere Model
journal, October 2008
- Hurrell, James W.; Hack, James J.; Shea, Dennis
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 21, Issue 19
Contributions of Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing to Recent Tropopause Height Changes
journal, July 2003
- Santer, B. D.
- Science, Vol. 301, Issue 5632
Estimating low-frequency variability and trends in atmospheric temperature using ERA-Interim: Atmospheric Temperature Variability and Trends using ERA-Interim
journal, January 2014
- Simmons, A. J.; Poli, P.; Dee, D. P.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 140, Issue 679
Relationships between precipitation and surface temperature: PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE RELATIONS
journal, July 2005
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Shea, Dennis J.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 32, Issue 14
An assessment of the solar irradiance record for climate studies
journal, January 2014
- Kopp, Greg
- Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate, Vol. 4
Observed changes in top-of-the-atmosphere radiation and upper-ocean heating consistent within uncertainty
journal, January 2012
- Loeb, Norman G.; Lyman, John M.; Johnson, Gregory C.
- Nature Geoscience, Vol. 5, Issue 2
ENSO and Pacific Decadal Variability in the Community Climate System Model Version 4
journal, April 2012
- Deser, Clara; Phillips, Adam S.; Tomas, Robert A.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 25, Issue 8
Global Sea Surface Temperature Analyses: Multiple Problemsand Their Implications for Climate Analysis, Modeling, and Reanalysis
journal, December 1999
- Hurrell, James W.; Trenberth, Kevin E.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 80, Issue 12
Regions of significant influence on unforced global mean surface air temperature variability in climate models: Origin of global temperature variability
journal, January 2015
- Brown, Patrick T.; Li, Wenhong; Xie, Shang-Ping
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 2
Trends in the CERES Dataset, 2000–13: The Effects of Sea Ice and Jet Shifts and Comparison to Climate Models
journal, March 2014
- Hartmann, Dennis L.; Ceppi, Paulo
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 27, Issue 6
An apparent hiatus in global warming?
journal, December 2013
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.
- Earth's Future, Vol. 1, Issue 1
Interannual variations in the atmospheric heat budget
journal, January 2002
- Trenberth, Kevin E.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, Issue D8
Evolution of El Niño–Southern Oscillation and global atmospheric surface temperatures
journal, January 2002
- Trenberth, Kevin E.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 107, Issue D8
On the Observed Near Cancellation between Longwave and Shortwave Cloud Forcing in Tropical Regions
journal, April 1994
- Kiehl, J. T.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 7, Issue 4
A Satellite Analysis of Deep Convection, Upper-Tropospheric Humidity, and the Greenhouse Effect
journal, October 1995
- Soden, Brian J.; Fu, Rong
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 8, Issue 10
Toward Optimal Closure of the Earth's Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget
journal, February 2009
- Loeb, Norman G.; Wielicki, Bruce A.; Doelling, David R.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 22, Issue 3
Low-frequency variations in surface atmospheric humidity, temperature, and precipitation: Inferences from reanalyses and monthly gridded observational data sets
journal, January 2010
- Simmons, A. J.; Willett, K. M.; Jones, P. D.
- Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 115, Issue D1
Advanced Two-Moment Bulk Microphysics for Global Models. Part II: Global Model Solutions and Aerosol–Cloud Interactions
journal, February 2015
- Gettelman, A.; Morrison, H.; Santos, S.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 28, Issue 3
Satellite observations of the water vapor greenhouse effect and column longwave cooling rates: Relative roles of the continuum and vibration-rotation to pure rotation bands: WATER VAPOR GREENHOUSE EFFECT
journal, March 2004
- Inamdar, Anand K.; Ramanathan, V.; Loeb, Norman G.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 109, Issue D6
Origins of the Solar Radiation Biases over the Southern Ocean in CFMIP2 Models
journal, January 2014
- Bodas-Salcedo, A.; Williams, K. D.; Ringer, M. A.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 27, Issue 1
Observations of Climate Feedbacks over 2000–10 and Comparisons to Climate Models
journal, January 2013
- Dessler, A. E.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 1
Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content: SIGNALS IN OCEAN HEAT CONTENT
journal, May 2013
- Balmaseda, Magdalena A.; Trenberth, Kevin E.; Källén, Erland
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, Issue 9
Variations in the Three-Dimensional Structure of the Atmospheric Circulation with Different Flavors of El Niño
journal, June 2009
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Smith, Lesley
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 22, Issue 11
The Community Earth System Model (CESM) Large Ensemble Project: A Community Resource for Studying Climate Change in the Presence of Internal Climate Variability
journal, August 2015
- Kay, J. E.; Deser, C.; Phillips, A.
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 96, Issue 8
Atmospheric Moisture Transports from Ocean to Land and Global Energy Flows in Reanalyses
journal, September 2011
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.; Mackaro, Jessica
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 24, Issue 18
The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system
journal, April 2011
- Dee, D. P.; Uppala, S. M.; Simmons, A. J.
- Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 137, Issue 656
Consistency of modelled and observed temperature trends in the tropical troposphere
journal, November 2008
- Santer, B. D.; Thorne, P. W.; Haimberger, L.
- International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 28, Issue 13
The Vertical Structure of Temperature in the Tropics: Different Flavors of El Niño
journal, October 2006
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Smith, Lesley
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 19, Issue 19
Processes controlling Southern Ocean shortwave climate feedbacks in CESM: CESM SOUTHERN OCEAN CLIMATE feedbacks
journal, January 2014
- Kay, J. E.; Medeiros, B.; Hwang, Y. -T.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 2
Climate variability and relationships between top-of-atmosphere radiation and temperatures on Earth: VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURES AND RADIATION
journal, May 2015
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Zhang, Yongxin; Fasullo, John T.
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 9
The Version-2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly Precipitation Analysis (1979–Present)
journal, December 2003
- Adler, Robert F.; Huffman, George J.; Chang, Alfred
- Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 4, Issue 6
A Less Cloudy Future: The Role of Subtropical Subsidence in Climate Sensitivity
journal, November 2012
- Fasullo, J. T.; Trenberth, K. E.
- Science, Vol. 338, Issue 6108
Simulation of Present-Day and Twenty-First-Century Energy Budgets of the Southern Oceans
journal, January 2010
- Trenberth, Kevin E.; Fasullo, John T.
- Journal of Climate, Vol. 23, Issue 2
Major influence of tropical volcanic eruptions on the stratospheric aerosol layer during the last decade: VOLCANIC INFLUENCE AERO STRATO
journal, June 2011
- Vernier, J. -P.; Thomason, L. W.; Pommereau, J. -P.
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 38, Issue 12