Mid-latitude clouds contribute to Arctic amplification via interactions with other climate feedbacks

Journal Article · 19 January 2025 · Environmental Research. Climate

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ada84b · OSTI ID:2504235

Bonan, David B. ; Kay, Jennifer E. ; Feldl, Nicole ; Zelinka, Mark D.

Abstract Traditional feedback analyses, which assume that individual climate feedback mechanisms act independently and add linearly, suggest that clouds do not contribute to Arctic amplification. However, feedback locking experiments, in which the cloud feedback is disabled, suggest that clouds, particularly outside of the Arctic, do contribute to Arctic amplification. Here, we reconcile these two perspectives by introducing a framework that quantifies the interactions between radiative feedbacks, radiative forcing, ocean heat uptake, and atmospheric heat transport. We show that including the cloud feedback in a comprehensive climate model can result in Arctic amplification because of interactions with other radiative feedbacks. The surface temperature change associated with including the cloud feedback is amplified in the Arctic by the surface-albedo, Planck, and lapse-rate feedbacks. A moist energy balance model with a locked cloud feedback exhibits similar behavior as the comprehensive climate model with a disabled cloud feedback and further indicates that the mid-latitude cloud feedback contributes to Arctic amplification via feedback interactions. Feedback locking in the moist energy balance model also suggests that the mid-latitude cloud feedback contributes substantially to the intermodel spread in Arctic amplification across comprehensive climate models. These results imply that constraining the mid-latitude cloud feedback will greatly reduce the intermodel spread in Arctic amplification. Furthermore, these results highlight a previously unrecognized non-local pathway for Arctic amplification.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 2504235
• Report Number(s): LLNL--JRNL-868875
• Journal Information: Environmental Research. Climate, Journal Name: Environmental Research. Climate Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 4; ISSN 2752-5295
• Publisher: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United Kingdom
• Language: English