Cirrus feedback on interannual climate fluctuations

Journal Article · Sun Dec 28 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062095· OSTI ID:1174296

Zhou, C. ^[1]; Dessler, A. E. ^[2]; Zelinka, M. D. ^[1]; Yang, P. ^[2]; Wang, T.  ^[3]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA (United States). Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison
2. Texas A&M Univ., College Station TX (United States). Department of Atmospheric Sciences
3. Jet Propulsion Lab./Caltech, Pasadena, CA (United States)

Cirrus clouds are not only important in determining the current climate, but also play an important role in climate change and variability. Analysis of satellite observations shows that the amount and altitude of cirrus clouds (optical depth <3.6, cloud top pressure <440 hPa) increase in response to inter-annual surface warming. Thus, cirrus clouds are likely to act as a positive feedback on short-term climate fluctuations, by reducing the planet’s ability to radiate longwave radiation to space in response to planetary surface warming. Using cirrus cloud radiative kernels, the magnitude of cirrus feedback is estimated to be 0.20±0.21W/m₂/°C, which is comparable to the surface albedo feedback. Most of the cirrus feedback comes from increasing cloud amount in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) and subtropical upper troposphere.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1174296
• Report Number(s): LLNL-JRNL-661816
• Journal Information: Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 41, Issue 24; ISSN 0094-8276
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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