Insights from a refined decomposition of cloud feedbacks
Abstract
Abstract Decomposing cloud feedback into components due to changes in several gross cloud properties provides valuable insights into its physical causes. Here we present a refined decomposition that separately considers changes in free tropospheric and low cloud properties, better connecting feedbacks to individual governing processes and avoiding ambiguities present in a commonly used decomposition. It reveals that three net cloud feedback components are robustly nonzero: positive feedbacks from increasing free tropospheric cloud altitude and decreasing low cloud cover and a negative feedback from increasing low cloud optical depth. Low cloud amount feedback is the dominant contributor to spread in net cloud feedback but its anticorrelation with other components damps overall spread. The ensemble mean free tropospheric cloud altitude feedback is roughly 60% as large as the standard cloud altitude feedback because it avoids aliasing in low cloud reductions. Implications for the “null hypothesis” climate sensitivity from well‐understood and robustly simulated feedbacks are discussed.
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1357354
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1402393
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-693677
Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 43; Journal Issue: 17; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; cloud feedback; radiative kernel; CMIP
Citation Formats
Zelinka, Mark D., Zhou, Chen, and Klein, Stephen A. Insights from a refined decomposition of cloud feedbacks. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/2016GL069917.
Zelinka, Mark D., Zhou, Chen, & Klein, Stephen A. Insights from a refined decomposition of cloud feedbacks. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069917
Zelinka, Mark D., Zhou, Chen, and Klein, Stephen A. Mon .
"Insights from a refined decomposition of cloud feedbacks". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL069917. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1357354.
@article{osti_1357354,
title = {Insights from a refined decomposition of cloud feedbacks},
author = {Zelinka, Mark D. and Zhou, Chen and Klein, Stephen A.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Decomposing cloud feedback into components due to changes in several gross cloud properties provides valuable insights into its physical causes. Here we present a refined decomposition that separately considers changes in free tropospheric and low cloud properties, better connecting feedbacks to individual governing processes and avoiding ambiguities present in a commonly used decomposition. It reveals that three net cloud feedback components are robustly nonzero: positive feedbacks from increasing free tropospheric cloud altitude and decreasing low cloud cover and a negative feedback from increasing low cloud optical depth. Low cloud amount feedback is the dominant contributor to spread in net cloud feedback but its anticorrelation with other components damps overall spread. The ensemble mean free tropospheric cloud altitude feedback is roughly 60% as large as the standard cloud altitude feedback because it avoids aliasing in low cloud reductions. Implications for the “null hypothesis” climate sensitivity from well‐understood and robustly simulated feedbacks are discussed.},
doi = {10.1002/2016GL069917},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 17,
volume = 43,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Sep 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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