Observational Quantification of Tropical High Cloud Changes and Feedbacks

Journal Article · 30 March 2024 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023jd039364 · OSTI ID:2331369

Raghuraman, Shiv Priyam  ^[1]; Medeiros, Brian  ^[1]; Gettelman, Andrew  ^[2]

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1. National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)
2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The response of tropical high clouds to surface warming and their radiative feedbacks are uncertain. For example, it is uncertain whether their coverage will contract or expand in response to surface warming and whether such changes entail a stabilizing radiative feedback (iris feedback) or a neutral feedback. Global satellite observations with passive and active remote sensing capabilities over the last two decades can now be used to address such effects that were previously observationally limited. Using these observations, we show that the vertically averaged coverage exhibits no significant contraction or expansion. However, we find a reduction in coverage at the altitude where high clouds peak and are particularly radiatively-relevant. This results in a negative longwave (LW) feedback and a positive shortwave (SW) feedback which cancel to yield a near-zero high-cloud amount feedback, providing observational evidence against an iris feedback. Next, we find that tropical high clouds have risen but have also warmed, leading to a positive, but small, high-cloud altitude feedback dominated by the LW feedback. Finally, we find that high clouds have been thinning, leading to a near-zero high-cloud optical depth feedback from a cancellation between negative LW and positive SW feedbacks. Overall, high clouds lead the total tropical cloud feedback to be small due to the negative LW-positive SW feedback cancellations.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth & Environmental Systems Science (EESS); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830; SC0022070; 1852977; IA 1947282; NA20OAR4310392; DE‐SC0022070
• OSTI ID: 2331369
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 2331372; OSTI ID: 2438540
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-201540
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres, Vol. 129, Issue 7; ISSN 2169-897X
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union; WileyCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English