Connections between clouds, radiation, and midlatitude dynamics: a review
File(s)clouds_dynamics_review_paper_final.pdf (746.09 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Ceppi, Paulo
Hartmann, Dennis L
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We review the effects of dynamical variability on clouds and radiation in observations and models and discuss their implications for cloud feedbacks. Jet shifts produce robust meridional dipoles in upper-level clouds and longwave cloud-radiative effect (CRE), but low-level clouds, which do not simply shift with the jet, dominate the shortwave CRE. Because the effect of jet variability on CRE is relatively small, future poleward jet shifts with global warming are only a second-order contribution to the total CRE changes around the midlatitudes, suggesting a dominant role for thermodynamic effects. This implies that constraining the dynamical response is unlikely to reduce the uncertainty in extratropical cloud feedback. However, we argue that uncertainty in the cloud-radiative response does affect the atmospheric circulation response to global warming, by modulating patterns of diabatic forcing. How cloud feedbacks can affect the dynamical response to global warming is an important topic of future research.
Date Issued
2015-06-01
Date Acceptance
2015-04-01
Citation
Current Climate Change Reports, 2015, 1 (2), pp.94-102
ISSN
2198-6061
Publisher
Springer (part of Springer Nature)
Start Page
94
End Page
102
Journal / Book Title
Current Climate Change Reports
Volume
1
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© Springer International Publishing AG 2015. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s40641-015-0010-x
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000463895800005&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Clouds
Radiation
Atmospheric dynamics
Jet streams
Cloud feedbacks
Interannual variability
Trends
Global warming
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2015-04-23